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PENNSYLVANIA 



COLONY AND COMMONWEALTH 



BY 



SYDNEY GEORGE FISHER 



AUTHOR OF "THE MAKING OF PENNSYLVANIA 




897 ^1^" 



V *- 



PHILADELPHIA 

HENRY T. COATES AND COMPANY 

MDCCCXCVII 



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//A'OAVA/ 



MAP OK COLONIAL PENNSYLVANIA. 



oft 



Copyright, 1896, 
By Henry T. Coates and Company. 



Sanitorrsttg press: 
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. 



CONTENTS 



Chapter Page 

Introduction vii 

I. Penn takes Possession i 

II. The Administration of Governor Evans . 35 
III. The Administration of Gookin and the 

Death of Penn 51 

IV. Mrs. Penn becomes Proprietary .... 66 

V. Gordon's Wise Administration 78 

VI. Governor Thomas and the Spanish War . 87 

VII. The Quakers and the Indians 98 

VIII. Commerce, Wealth, and Education . . . 131 

IX. The Seven Years' War Begins 145 

X. Braddock's Defeat 153 

XI. The Indians revenge Themselves on Penn- 
sylvania 161 

XII. The Indians Checked 182 

XIII. The Violence of Party Spirit 190 

XIV. The End of the War 206 

XV. The Estates are Taxed 215 

XVI. Pontiac's Conspiracy 221 

XVII. The Scotch-Irish and the Quakers . . . 230 

V 



Contents 

Chapter p AGE 

XVIII. The Conspiracy Broken 251 

XIX. The Attempt to abolish the Proprietor- 
ship .... 255 

XX. Life and Manners at the Time of the 

Revolution 268 

XXI. The Rise of the Revolution 284 

XXII. The Movement for Independence . . . 310 

XXIII. War 333 

XXIV. The British pass a Pleasant Winter in 

Philadelphia 357 

XXV. Toryism and Paper Money 369 

XXVI. Dickinson and the Provost return from 

Banishment 380 

XXVII. The Whiskey Rebellion 393 

XXVIII. The Hot- Water Rebellion 399 

XXIX. The Civil War 402 

XXX. The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia ... 413 



INTRODUCTION 



In the previous volume, "The Making of Penn- 
sylvania," a full account was given of the numerous 
nationalities and religions which made up the popu- 
lation of the province. The Dutch, Swedes, English, 
Germans, Welsh, and Scotch-Irish, together with their 
different religions, Quaker, Lutheran, Reformed, Epis- 
copalian, Tunker, Mennonite, Schwenkfelder, Moravian, 
and Presbyterian, were each considered in detail, and 
there was also a chapter on the Connecticut Invasion, 
which introduced a New England element into the 
population. 

This discussion was necessary to an intelligent under- 
standing of the history of the State, not only because 
it showed of what sort of people we were composed, 
but because many of these divisions, especially the 
Germans, Scotch-Irish, and Connecticut people, lived 
an isolated life, forming almost distinct colonies of their 
own ; and in any truthful history of the State it is 
necessary that this should clearly appear. 

"The Making of 'Pennsylvania" having shown this 
original isolation of the elements of the population, 



Introduction 

and having given with some detail the history of each, 
as it grew in its own way, and having also described 
the boundary disputes with Connecticut, Maryland, and 
Virginia, by which the size of the territory which was 
to contain this very miscellaneous population was deter- 
mined, it remains to give the general history of the 
State as a whole. This may be described as the narra- 
tive or social and political history, — the history which 
shows the growth of civil and constitutional liberty, 
the gradual formation of a colony into a common- 
wealth, and the adventures and trials through which 
it passed. 

The first and most important point to notice in rela- 
tion to this history is, that for nearly a hundred years, 
from 1682 to 1776, it is concerned principally with only 
one of the great divisions of the population ; namely, the 
Quakers. The province was theirs ; and they controlled 
its policy and legislation down to the summer of 1776, 
when their power was destroyed almost in a moment. 
The present history is therefore compelled to leave in 
the background most of the diversified elements of the 
people and their social life among themselves, and to 
bring forward and make conspicuous only one of them. 
The Quakers are our heroes, and the other divisions 
are subsidiary characters. 

During the first seventy years the political history 
of the colony may be said to be exclusively a history 
of the Quakers, because the Church of England people, 
who were their opponents during that time, were so few 
in numbers that they played a comparatively insig- 



Introduction 

nificant part. During those same years, the Germans 
were pouring into the colony by thousands and the 
Scotch-Irish by hundreds, and going off into the 
wilderness to live by themselves, leaving the Quakers 
in undisturbed control of politics. At the same time 
the Church of England people were also gradually 
increasing, and other elements were adding themselves 
to the population. 

It was not, however, until about the year 1755, when 
the French and Indian Wars began, that we find any 
of the other elements assuming an important position 
in political contests. At that time, both the Church- 
men and the Scotch-Irish became very bitter oppo- 
nents of the Quakers, but utterly failed to drive them 
from power, because the Germans never forgot the 
debt of gratitude they owed the Quakers, and always 
voted on their side. From 1755, therefore, until the 
Revolution, we are able to see something of other ele- 
ments of the population than the Quakers. During the 
Revolution the Quakers disappear entirely, and the 
Presbyterians and Scotch-Irish are in the ascendant. 

Another very important point to be noticed in this 
history is the gradual but sure and steady way in which 
the Quakers, during their long control, developed the 
civil liberty of the province. In Massachusetts the col- 
onists, for the first fifty years, enjoyed what was in 
effect political independence, elected their own gov- 
ernors, and made their own laws without any interfer- 
ence from England. At the end of that time their 
Charter was annulled, their liberties lost, and they 



Introduction 

came under direct royal rule through governors 
appointed by the crown. At the accession of Wil- 
liam III. to the throne, they rebelled to regain their 
liberties, but lost them again, and were held under 
closer rule than ever, which, being increased after the 
passage of the Stamp Act, made them the most violent 
agitators in the Revolution. Virginia had a somewhat 
similar experience of an easy, almost independent, 
government at first and tyranny afterward. Other 
colonies went through somewhat the same varied ex- 
periences, except Connecticut and Rhode Island, whose 
forms of government, liberal in the beginning, went on 
without change through the whole colonial period. 

But Pennsylvania, starting as a feudal proprietary 
province, under the treble control of deputy-governors, 
proprietor, and king, gradually worked out for herself a 
body of constitutional liberty, which, at the time of the 
Revolution, gave her such a satisfactory form of gov- 
ernment that it was a great obstacle in the way of the 
movement for independence. The development of this 
civil liberty was very slow, step by step and year by 
year, without rebellions, revolutions, or violence of any 
kind; but there were no backward steps. Indeed, the 
regularity of it is very curious and remarkable, and has 
never yet been described. It was accomplished by 
continual yearly disputes with the deputy-governor 
and proprietors on all sorts of questions, most of them 
extremely petty at first sight, but all of them involving 
great constitutional principles of which the sturdy colo- 
nists never lost sight. The patience and persistence 



Introduction 



with which they worried and worried over these prob- 
lems, the ingenuity with which they tried to turn every 
trifling circumstance into an advantage, and their end- 
less tenacity and endurance, were extremely Anglo- 
Saxon. 

It must be admitted that to unravel the tangled 
skein of their efforts through nearly a hundred years 
is very tedious; but at the same time it is interesting 
to see the resistance of king, proprietor, and governor 
slowly yielding before their determined purpose. 
When the time of the French and Indian Wars ar- 
rives, their struggles become dramatic and tragic ; and 
there are few things in history more pathetic than the 
driving from power and influence in 1776 of the men 
who had so patiently built up the noble fabric of the 
liberties of the province. 

Unfortunately the historians of Pennsylvania have 
always failed to grasp this slow development of our 
civil liberty. In its earliest movements they see in it 
nothing but petty disputes, which they make still more 
petty by their ridicule; and in the heroic struggle to 
preserve the province's liberty in the French and Indian 
Wars, they are again stupidly blind to the true situa- 
tion, and place the province in the position of oppos- 
ing the best interests of America. 

There is no State whose early history has been so 
thoroughly misunderstood. Our own writers have mis- 
understood it, and other writers, like Parkman, in his 
" Conspiracy of Pontiac," have indulged themselves in 
an insanity of abuse of every act and motive of our 



Introduction 

people, until it is hard to find in the general literature 
of the country a single passage containing a good word 
for Colonial Pennsylvania. 

Our position during the Revolution is another unex- 
plored domain of which there is no connected account. 
There were two revolutions going on in Pennsylvania 
during the war for independence, — one was part of the 
general revolution affecting the whole continent, and 
the other was a revolution within the State, reversing 
its policy of a hundred years and bringing into power 
entirely new forces and new people. It was a turmoil 
and confusion very difficult to understand at this late 
day. Our own writers have scarcely touched upon it; 
and the little that has been written is by opponents of 
the State, inspired by prejudice, and not inclined to 
uphold either the conduct of our people or the char- 
acters of our public men. 

The present volume completes our history to the 
time of the Whiskey Rebellion, or in effect to the close 
of the eighteenth century. The history of the present 
century would require another volume, and would be 
extremely difficult to write in a way that would interest 
readers, because the material is not yet collected. 

It has been thought well, however, to add to the 
present volume two chapters, — one on the services of 
the State in the Civil War, and the other on the Pre- 
eminence of Philadelphia. The chapter on Philadelphia 
includes a discussion of the effects of the introduction 
of the public-school system in 1834, which in many 
respects was the most important event in our history 



Introduction 

during the present century; and the Civil War and our 
resistance to Lee at Gettysburg form, of course, an- 
other great event. These two are our most important 
episodes since 1800, and the material from which they 
may be described is easily accessible. 



PENNSYLVANIA: 
COLONY AND COMMONWEALTH 



CHAPTER I 

PENN TAKES POSSESSION 

In " The Making of Pennsylvania " the occupation of 
the Delaware by the Dutch and Swedes was described, 
and the easy, contented life they led on the meadows 
and marshes without any attempt to penetrate the in- 
terior. There was a vast abundance of game and fish, 
and they pastured their cattle on the rich grass. But 
other eyes were turned upon the land ; and it was de- 
sired by more earnest souls, who intended to penetrate 
far beyond the marshes. 

It is commonly supposed that the idea of having a 
great province on the Delaware as a refuge for the 
Quakers originated with William Penn. It was sug- 
gested to him, it is said, by his connection with New 
Jersey, — of one part of which he was a co-owner and 
of the other part a trustee, — and also by the thought 
that the crown still owed him the ,£16,000 due to his 
father, and might be willing to pay it in wild land. 
A careful investigation, however, shows that the origi- 
nal conception of Pennsylvania as a commonwealth was 
not with William Penn at all, but with George Fox and 
1 x 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

the Quakers, and Penn was merely the instrument to 
carry out their purpose. 

Soon after the year 1650, when the Quakers were or- 
ganized as a sect, George Fox, their leader, appears to 
have made definite inquiries as to the availability for 
settlement of the mountains and forests which were 
said to lie north of Maryland. A certain Quaker, 
Josiah Cole, had travelled in America and been much 
among the Indian tribes. Fox consulted with him ; 
and on his second visit to America, in 1660, he was 
commissioned to treat with the Susquehanna Indians, 
whose territory seemed to be the only available land 
near the seashore not already taken by white men. 
In November, 1660, Cole wrote to Fox the result of his 
inquiries; and the letter is quoted in Bowden's "His- 
tory of the Friends in America" (vol. i. p. 389): 

" Dear George, — As concerning Friends buying a piece 
of land of the Susquehanna Indians I have spoken of it to 
them & told them what thou said concerning it ; but their 
answer was, that there is no land that is habitable or fit for 
situation beyond Baltimore's liberty till they come to or near 
the Susquehanna's Fort." 

The letter goes on to say that nothing could be 
accomplished in the way of purchase because the 
Indians were at war with one another, and William 
Fuller, a Maryland Quaker of much influence, was 
absent. But although nothing definite could be done, 
the subject was no doubt much debated among the 
followers of Fox in England. 

The discussion reached the ears of a student of Christ 
Church College, Oxford, — a tall, strong young man, 
devoted to athletic sports, but with a serious cast of 



Penn takes Possession 

countenance and large handsome eyes. Christ Church 
College, the training-school of the English nobility, was 
not exactly a place for religious enthusiasm. Young 
William Penn, though not a nobleman, was the asso- 
ciate of noblemen, for his father was one of the great 
admirals of the age, and stood high in favor at court. 
He looked forward to court preferment and high dis- 
tinction for his son, and educated him for that purpose. 
But young Penn had wandered occasionally from the 
college precincts and listened to a Quaker preacher, 
and, as his father, the admiral, would have said, had 
become infatuated. 

A youth of such broad sympathies as Penn was 
easily led away by the refined spirituality of the early 
Quakers; and how attractive to such a boy must have 
been the thought of a refuge in the American wilder- 
ness, — a home for his pure faith in the virgin woods, 
far from corruption, imprisonment, tithes, and cruel men ; 
a commonwealth reared afresh out of nature by manly 
effort and adventure, where they could try the experi- 
ment of their principles in their truest form. How a 
college lad would dwell and enlarge on such a theme ! 
And did he exaggerate when afterward he spoke of it as 
" an opening of joy "? We can see him now in his room 
at Christ Church, that nurse of so many leaders of men, 
with his athletic figure and his great sincere black eyes, 
as he pondered and dreamed and built up the ideal. 

Twenty years afterward, when he had obtained the 
grant of Pennsylvania from the crown, he wrote, " I 
had an opening of joy as to these parts in the year 
1661 at Oxford." 1 Every year there are college boys 

1 Janney's Life of Penn, 163. 
3 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

that have dreams, but very few bring them to fulfil- 
ment like Penn. 

The dreamer became a man. He left his college, and 
for twenty years learned the world. He became by- 
turns a soldier, traveller, fop, fanatic, courtier, his nature 
shifting and hesitating between the two influences he 
had received at Oxford, — the love of pleasure and dis- 
tinction and a courtier's life, and the religious infection 
which his father detested. He was whipped for that 
religious infection and driven from home by that stern 
father, who, after Blake, was the greatest naval officer of 
the century. Sometimes he yielded to his father's 
wishes, sometimes to the impulses of the new religion. 
At his father's wish he became a soldier for a time, and 
at another time travelled in France with the gay people 
of the court. But in the end the religious feeling tri- 
umphed, and in spite of the father it rapidly began to 
absorb the young man's whole life. So much did it 
absorb him, and so famous did he become as an advocate 
of the new faith, that the father yielded and forgave him. 

About the year 1680 young Penn found himself at 
the age of thirty-six, with his father dead, and a debt 
due him from the crown of ^"16,000 for services which 
his distinguished father had rendered. The subject 
of a home in the new world was still in the minds 
of his sect ; and Penn saw an opportunity in the debt 
due him from the crown to secure a grant of the 
necessary land. He applied to Charles II. in 1681, and 
the debt of ;£ 16,000 was cancelled by a gift to 
Penn of the largest tract of territory that had ever 
been given in America to a single individual. In addi- 
tion to this and for the sake of controlling the free navi- 



% 

Penn takes Possession 

gation of the Delaware all the way to the sea, Penn 
secured from the Duke of York the free gift of the 
territory now included in the State of Delaware. The 
vastness of these grants and the^ease with which they 
were obtained shows how powerful was Penn's influence 
at court. He held the extraordinary position of being 
popular among the aristocracy, who despised his religion 
and, so far as that religion was concerned, believed him 
to be nothing but a disturber of the peace. This good 
fortune of being liked by opposing classes he owed to 
the broadness of his sympathy and his perfect courage, 
frankness, and sincerity. 

The charter or grant of Pennsylvania, unlike many of 
the colonial charters, was not for the purpose of creating 
a trading corporation, but simply gave the land of the 
province into the hands of a single individual, and gave 
also to that individual the privilege of creating a political 
government. Penn had the fee-simple title to over forty 
thousand square miles of territory, and could adopt for 
it any form of government he chose, provided that the 
majority of his colonists consented. If, however, on 
any sudden emergency, the freemen could not assemble, 
the Charter gave Penn the right to make laws without 
their consent. 

Penn was by his Charter governor of the province as 
well as proprietor, and it was often in his mind to live in 
his colony, and exercise the powers of a governor in 
person. But various circumstances prevented the fulfil- 
ment of this, and he enjoyed the pleasure of direct rule 
over his people on only two occasions, when he made 
short visits to his colony. He and his children after 
him ruled their possessions almost exclusively by depu- 

5 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

The creation by one man of such a huge, prosperous, 
and powerful empire, and its possession by himself and 
his children as a feudal barony for such a length of 
time, has, we believe, no parallel in the history of the 
world. Kings have possessed themselves of such 
domains, but never before a private citizen, who 
scorned all titles. 

When we consider the education and surroundings of 
Penn, his romantic youth, his learning and accomplish- 
ments, his extraordinary position of religious, enthusiast 
and courtier, and that he established his great province 
on the most liberal and advanced principles of his time, 
— principles, indeed, which the rest of the world has 
only recently adopted, — we can understand why Penn- 
sylvania became the wonder and talk of all Europe, as 
a most remarkable experiment by a most interesting 
man, and why Voltaire would never to the end of his 
life give up the thought that it was an ideal spot for 
human existence, and the refuge for all lovers of liberty 
as well as philosophers. 

Penn expected his colony to be peopled by Quakers ; 
and as soon as he had obtained his Charter, he advertised 
for settlers and appointed his cousin, William Markham, 
to be deputy-governor. Markham sailed almost imme- 
diately, and seems to have gone by way of Boston, 
where lie recorded his commission. He travelled by 
way of New York^naarrived on the Delaware July 
I, 1 68 1, which may be considered as the date when 
Penn took possession^ — -^ 

Markham immediately began to arrange for the pur- 
chase of the land from the Indians. He fixed on 
Upland, now Chester, for his headquarters, where he 



Perm takes Possession 

held court and ruled over the Swedes and Dutch, and 
also the English that he found on the land. He con- 
tinued in this way for more than a year with but 
few additions to his people, until on the 27th of Octo- 
ber, 1682, Penn arrived at New Castle with many settlers 
in the ship " Welcome." 

Penn landed at New Castle, exhibited the deeds of 
the Duke of York giving him what is now the State 
of Delaware, and, having placed the government of 
that country in safe hands, proceeded to Upland to 
take possession of Pennsylvania and form its consti- 
tution. Immediately upon landing at Upland, he turned 
to his friend Pearson, saying that this was a memorable 
event and asking him to name the town ; and Pearson 
gave it the name of his native city, Chester. 

A day or so afterward, Penn, it is said, was rowed in 
a barge from Chester to the present site of Philadel- 
phia, — a memorable excursion upon which the fancy 
of historian and biographer has long delighted to dwell. 
It was one of the last days of October ; and that reach of 
the river now so familiar to Philadelphians must have 
been a fascinating scene in its perfect wildness, the 
autumn tints upon the shores, the millions of birds 
upon the waters, and the deep stillness of the wilderness 
all around. He landed where the high land had long 
shown to explorers the site for a great city. The steep 
bank was penetrated by a little stream, deep at its 
mouth, with a low sandy beach making a natural land- 
ing-place, and the line of it is now marked by Dock 
Street. It was a pretty spot ; a stray settler had already 
built his house there ; and Penn was charmed with the 
situation. 

9 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

The Indians, it is said, were there to meet him; and 
there is also a tradition that on this occasion he sat 
with them on the ground, ate their roasted acorns, and 
afterwards recalled his college days by contending with 
them in a jumping match in which his agility surprised 
them. The story is not at all unlikely ; for Penn cared 
little for formal dignity, and when he erred in such 
matters it was usually on the side of levity. He was, 
moreover, at that time only thirty-eight years old, with 
the athletic, handsome figure that his cavalier training 
had developed. 

Philadelphia had already been decreed into exist- 
ence, its streets mapped out by his commissioners, and 
perhaps some progress made in marking them on the 
ground. The present Walnut Street was called Pool 
Street, and Chestnut Street was Union Street; but Penn 
afterward gave them the names they now bear, from 
the trees that grew near them. 

But although Philadelphia was begun, business must 
still be transacted at Chester; and writs were issued, 
summoning the freeholders to meet at that place and 
elect representatives to a General Assembly which was 
to meet in December and accept or reject the " Frame 
of Government " and the " Laws Agreed upon in 
England." These two documents had been published 
by Penn in England during the previous spring, and 
were spoken of as the " Printed Laws " and the 
" Written Laws, or Constitution." 

" The Printed Laws," or the " Laws Agreed upon in 
England," gave the Assembly little trouble, and were 
readily passed. They had already been considered in 
England, and they contained nothing more than simple 



Perm takes Possession 



rules of order, and raised no disputed questions of 
principle. They defined who should be freemen and 
have the right to vote, and the term included land- 
holders and also such inhabitants and artificers as 
paid " scot and lot to the government." They pro- 
vided for courts, trial by jury, prisons, marriages, and 
register of births. The only provisions at all striking 
or new were those for registering deeds, giving the 
estates of murderers to the next of kin of the sufferer 
and of the criminal, abolishing oaths, and establishing 
freedom of worship. 

The " Erame of Government." as it was called, was 
what we should now call a constitution, and carried out 
that portion of the Charter which gave Penn the privi- 
lege of joining with the freemen in creating the political 
government. In this constitution he enlarged on govern- 
ment as a divine institution ; and as we read this rather 
dull preamble we soon come to the passage so often 
quoted, wherein he says that any government is free 
where the laws rule and the people are a party to the 
laws, which is immediately followed by another passage 
equally sensible and Saxon : — 

" But lastly, when all is said, there is hardly one frame of 
government in the world so ill designed by its founders, that 
in good hands would not do N well enough. . . . Governments, 
like clocks, go from the motion men give them, and as 
governments are made and moved by men, so by them they 
are ruined too." 

Coming more to particulars, he provided for a pro- 
vincial council of seventy-two members, to be elected 
by the people ; and this council was to propose laws, 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

which should be submitted for the approval of the 
General Assembly, also to be elected by the people. 
The governor and this provincial council were to form 
the executive part of the government, guard the peace 
and safety of the colony, see that all laws were en- 
forced, locate cities, ports, streets, and roads, inspect the 
management of the treasury, establish public schools, 
courts of justice, and appoint judges, sheriffs, justices 
of the peace, and coroners. The evident intention was 
that the governor and Council should be the ruling 
body, with the General Assembly as a check on their 
proceedings, but without any power in the Assembly to 
originate laws, which were to be first proposed in every 
instance by the Council. This Frame, as he called it, 
Penn professed to regard as a contract between him and 
the people, not to be altered without the consent of 
himself or his heirs and six parts out of seven of the 
freemen in Council and General Assembly. 

The Assembly accepted the Frame, and it became the 
first Constitution of Pennsylvania. The laws they also 
accepted, and re-enacted them with many additions in 
what became known as the " Great Law." It begins by 
establishing religious liberty in the manner in which it 
was then understood, by allowing freedom of worship to 
all who acknowledged one God; and the further qual- 
ification is added that members of Assembly and all 
officers of government, as well as those who voted for 
them, should be such as believed Jesus Christ to be the 
Son of God and Saviour of the world. 

The Great Law goes on with many minute provisions 
against swearing, cursing, drunkenness, health-drinking, 
card-playing, scolding, and lying in conversation, a law 



Penn takes Possession 

making every prison a work-house or reformatory, and 
various other regulations and details which the careful 
consideration of the Assembly suggested. There was 
also a law to naturalize the Swedes and other foreigners 
that were found on the land, and an Act of Union, as it 
was called, which annexed to Pennsylvania the province 
of Delaware, then called " The Territories," or " three 
lower counties." 

The people of Delaware had of their own accord 
asked to be under the government of Pennsylvania, 
and this made Penn's rule over them more legitimate ; 
for the deeds from the Duke of York giving him Dela- 
ware conveyed only a title to the land and gave no 
power of political government. 

The province was now a commonwealth, and began 
to have politics. For many years these politics con- 
sisted of what seem like very petty disputes, tiresome to 
investigate and equally tiresome to read. But in one 
sense they were important; for they show the instincts 
of the people and the gradual manner in which they 
developed their liberties. 

At the first meeting of the Council and Assembly 
they objected to the large number ef representatives, 
and asked also that the Assembly might have the right 
to originate laws. Penn listened patiently to them and 
finally assented to the Act of Settlement, as it was called, 
which reduced the Council to eighteen members and 
the Assembly to thirty-six, but gave no right to the 
Assembly to originate laws. 

Penn, as governor of his own province, had thus far 
found everything favorable ; and it has usually been the 
opinion of historians that if he could have always re- 

T 3 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

mained governor in person it would have been better 
for Pennsylvania as well as for himself. His first stay 
in the colony lasted only about a year and ten months, 
from October, 1682, to August, 1684, but was full of 
activity and usefulness. He had brought a State into 
being, given it laws and a constitution, and doubtless 
settled innumerable small questions and disputes of 
which we have no record. He had been to New York 
to pay his duty to the Duke of York by visiting his 
province. He had made his famous treaty with the 
Indians under the Elm at Kensington. He had begun 
to build his mansion and lay out the grounds of his 
country-place at Pennsbury, near Bristol on the Dela- 
ware. He had travelled to Maryland to meet Lord 
Baltimore and discuss the boundary disputes, and he 
had made expeditions into the interior of the province 
among the Indians. 

In all these journeys through New York, Long Island, 
Jersey, and Maryland, he preached at all the meetings 
of the Quakers wherever he could find them ; and in 
the intervals of time when he was on the Delaware, he 
superintended the laying out of Philadelphia's streets. 
Within nine months after his arrival he reported to 
England that he had eighty houses built, and three 
hundred farms laid out round the town. Fifty sail, he 
said, had come into the river since the previous sum- 
mer ; and it has been supposed that during the first 
year nearly three thousand persons arrived. It must 
have been an interesting scene at Philadelphia with 
the handsome, accomplished young proprietor moving 
about among the people and suggesting plans for their 
houses, while all were stimulated with the novelty of 

14 



Penn takes Possession 

the enterprise, the freshness of the wilderness, and the 
abundance of game. The wild pigeons came in such 
numbers, and flew so low, that they could be knocked 
down with sticks ; and those that were not immediately 
used were salted and stored away. 

The year and ten months of his stay must have been 
as happy as any Penn had spent. His affability, fair- 
ness, and frankness of manner won the complete devo- 
tion of the people. His industry and keen observation 
are abundantly shown in the long letter he wrote to the 
Free Society of Traders, with a description of the 
province, its woods and waters, its animals and men, 
which can still be read with the greatest interest, and is 
all the more valuable because of its excellent tone and 
manner. Penn was far above the fulsome and nauseous 
boasting, as well as the mock-modest advocacy, 
which then, as now, were only too common with land 
speculators. 

Unfortunately, while in the midst of these pleasures, 
the dispute with Lord Baltimore about the Maryland 
boundary took him back to England. Lord Baltimore 
had already started, and evidently with the intention of 
appealing to the king. Penn must follow, and he sailed 
on the I2th of August, 1684. 

He provided that during his absence in England his 
power as governor should be delegated to the Provincial 
Council, whose president, a prominent Welsh Quaker 
named Thomas Lloyd, naturally became the executive 
of the province. As the Assembly had not been allowed 
to originate bills, they were determined to use to the 
utmost their power to reject them when originated by 
the Council. They took advantage of the slightest 

15 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

mained governor in person it would have been better 
for Pennsylvania as well as for himself. His first stay 
in the colony lasted only about a year and ten months, 
from October, 1682, to August, 1684, but was full of 
activity and usefulness. He had brought a State into 
being, given it laws and a constitution, and doubtless 
settled innumerable small questions and disputes of 
which we have no record. He had been to New York 
to pay his duty to the Duke of York by visiting his 
province. He had made his famous treaty with the 
Indians under the Elm at Kensington. He had begun 
to build his mansion and lay out the grounds of his 
country-place at Pennsbury, near Bristol on the Dela- 
ware. He had travelled to Maryland to meet Lord 
Baltimore and discuss the boundary disputes, and he 
had made expeditions into the interior of the province 
among the Indians. 

In all these journeys through New York, Long Island, 
Jersey, and Maryland, he preached at all the meetings 
of the Quakers wherever he could find them ; and in 
the intervals of time when he was on the Delaware, he 
superintended the laying out of Philadelphia's streets. 
Within nine months after his arrival he reported to 
England that he had eighty houses built, and three 
hundred farms laid out round the town. Fifty sail, he 
said, had come into the river since the previous sum- 
mer ; and it has been supposed that during the first 
year nearly three thousand persons arrived. It must 
have been an interesting scene at Philadelphia with 
the handsome, accomplished young proprietor moving 
about among the people and suggesting plans for their 
houses, while all were stimulated with the novelty of 

14 



% 

Penn takes Possession 

the enterprise, the freshness of the wilderness, and the 
abundance of game. The wild pigeons came in such 
numbers, and flew so low, that they could be knocked 
down with sticks ; and those that were not immediately 
used were salted and stored away. 

The year and ten months of his stay must have been 
as happy as any Penn had spent. His affability, fair- 
ness, and frankness of manner won the complete devo- 
tion of the people. His industry and keen observation 
are abundantly shown in the long letter he wrote to the 
Free Society of Traders, with a description of the 
province, its woods and waters, its animals and men, 
which can still be read with the greatest interest, and is 
all the more valuable because of its excellent tone and 
manner. Penn was far above the fulsome and nauseous 
boasting, as well as the mock-modest advocacy, 
which then, as now, were only too common with land 
speculators. 

Unfortunately, while in the midst of these pleasures, 
the dispute with Lord Baltimore about the Maryland 
boundary took him back to England. Lord Baltimore 
had already started, and evidently with the intention of 
appealing to the king. Penn must follow, and he sailed 
on the 12th of August, 1684. 

He provided that during his absence in England his 
power as governor should be delegated to the Provincial 
Council, whose president, a prominent Welsh Quaker 
named Thomas Lloyd, naturally became the executive 
of the province. As the Assembly had not been allowed 
to originate bills, they were determined to use to the 
utmost their power to reject them when originated by 
the Council. They took advantage of the slightest 

15 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

mistakes the Council made; and this was the first 
decided stand of the Assembly, and the beginning of 
a long contest : which the liberty- of the province 

.5 developed. They worried the proprietorship 
what seem very trifling disputes; but in fifty ye us the 
result was large. 

They had a great advantage in the custom of pa s 
laws which should be in force only one year. At the 
end of the year, if the Council would not yield to their 
wishes they would refuse to renew the laws, which 
in effect to threaten to leave the colony without any 
laws at alL They produced a dead lock several times 
in this way, to the great annoyance of Penn. He 
wanted to go out and again take personal charge, but 
the boundary dispute with Baltimore kept him in 
E gland. He was indignant that no money came from 
the province, and he declared he was already .£5,000 
behindhand. He would never, he said, be governor 
in unless the people provided for his table, cellar, 
and stable, and gave him a barge and a yacht. 

He saw that he had made a mistake in delegating 
his power to the Council, which was. in effect, an 
attempt to place eighteen governors over the province 
and he thought if he reduced the number to five t 
would succeed better than the eighteen. He accord- 
ingly commissioned five of the councillors, Thomas 
Lie :>las More, James Claypoole, Robert Turner, 

and John Eckky authorizing them, or any three of 
them, to act as the executive under the name of Com- 

:f State. More and Claypoole neva acts 
and Arthur Cook and John Symcock were appointed 

in their pla: 

16 



Penn takes Possession 

Although their commission was dated the 1st of 
February, 1686, it was long before it reached the 
province ; and the commissioners did not take control 
until February, 1688. Penn was thoroughly disgusted 
with the confusions in the province, and had evidently 
determined to use his full authority. In his instructions 
to the commissioners he told them that they had power 
to enact, annul, or vary laws as if he himself were 
present. They were to keep the Provincial Council 
to its duty ; and if that body continued in its slothful 
and dishonorable attendance, he would without more 
ado dissolve the Frame of Government. No more 
open parleys or conferences between Council and 
Assembly were to be allowed. At the next meeting 
of the Assembly the commissioners were to announce 
that all laws except the fundamentals were abrogated. 
They were then to dismiss the Assembly, and, having 
called it again, to pass such of the laws afresh as 
seemed proper. 

These extraordinary assumptions of power over the 
colony would have created a great commotion among 
the people if they had become known. But the 
commissioners wisely kept them secret, and went on 
governing in the usual way. 

Whether Penn really had these great powers, the 
right to vary and annul laws as he pleased, and to call 
and dismiss the Assembly, is still an open question ; 
for his commissioners saved him from the misfortune 
of putting it to the test and it is now perhaps hardly 
worth while to argue it. The Charter gave him the 
right to make laws " by and with the advice, assent, 
and approbation of the freemen of the said country, or 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

the greater part of them, or of their delegates." If he 
could not make laws without the consent of the free- 
men, it is reasonable to suppose that he could not annul 
them without their consent. This power which he 
claimed of annulling laws was the same which his friend 
James II. was at that time claiming in England; and as 
it was soon settled that the English king had not this 
power, it is not to be supposed that Penn had, without 
express words to that effect in his Charter. 

The experiment of five deputies seems to have 
pleased the proprietor no better than the eighteen; and 
before they had been in office a year he appointed 
Capt. John Blackwell to be the sole deputy-governor. 
Penn was annoyed by the jealousies and petty quarrels 
among the people. He was becoming very anxious 
about the failure of money returns from quit-rents 
and sales of land, and the vicious habit the province 
had acquired of drawing on him to defray the ex- 
penses of government. Blackwell was an old Crom- 
wellian soldier, and his strong hand might be of much 
assistance. 

But Blackwell was a worse stirrer up of strife than 
any of the others. His appointment was not considered 
a compliment to Lloyd and the rest of the governing 
class. A soldier governor was not pleasing to the 
Quakers, and was inconsistent with the foundation and 
objects of the colony. They made it very hot for him ; 
and he earnestly besought Penn to relieve him from a 
situation that was useless and ludicrous, and Penn 
granted his request. After having been deputy a year 
and a month, he joyfully announced on the ist of 
January, 1790, that his rule was at an end. " T is a 



Penn takes Possession 

good day," he said ; " I have given and do unfeinedly 
give God thanks for it." 

Such was the end of the first attempt to put a soldier 
over Quakers, — a soldier, too, who was all the more 
disliked for being a Puritan from New England. Penn's 
next experiment was to offer the Council two methods 
of obtaining a deputy, and they might choose either 
one or the other, as pleased them best. The Provincial 
Council could nominate three persons for the office, and 
Penn would select one of them ; or, if they liked it 
better, the whole Provincial Council could again act 
as governors. The Council chose the latter method, 
and they all became deputy-governors, with Thomas 
Lloyd, their president, once more the most important 
man in the colony. 

But soon there was another change in the govern- 
ment and a return to a single head. Thomas Lloyd 
was made deputy-governor in 1692. Thus in ten years 
the government had been changed six times. At first 
Markham as deputy, then Penn as governor in person, 
then the whole Council of eighteen, then five of the 
Council, then a single deputy, then the whole Council, 
and now a single deputy again. In a few months 
there was another change, not made by Penn, but by 
William III , who, by virtue of his royal prerogative, 
took possession of Pennsylvania and appointed over it 
a military governor, or captain-general, as he was 
called, Col. Benjamin Fletcher. 

The reasons given for the seizure of Pennsylvania 
by the crown were, that the province by the absence 
of its proprietor had been misgoverned and was in a 
state of great disorder ; that no provision for military 

19 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

defence had been made ; and that it, as well as the 
adjacent colonies, might at any moment during the war 
fall into the hands of France. But Pennsylvania was 
so soon restored to Penn that the chief reason for 
taking it away, besides the military one, seems to have 
been a certain political expediency.] William under- 
stood Perm's character and position, and had no dislike 
for him. But Penn had been so closely associated with 
James II., and so many reports were circulated against 
him, that the new government under William must at 
least have the appearance of dealing with him some- 
what severely. He was accordingly several times called 
before the Privy Council and tried, but always easily 
acquitted, and his province was taken under royal con- 
trol at the same time that New York and Maryland 
were taken under that control. 

Fletcher, who was also Captain-General of New York, 
arrived in Philadelphia, April 26, 1693, and forthwith 
proceeded to carry out the new form of government 
described in his commission. Thomas Lloyd sturdily 
refused to serve under him ; and so he appointed 
William Markham to be his deputy, and superseded 
the Council by one of his own appointing, which by 
his commission could not exceed twelve in number. 
He also decreased the numbers of the Assembly, — a 
change which his advisers earnestly protested against, 
but in vain. 

Within a month after Fletcher's arrival the new 
Assembly met, and their first act was to dispute his 
authority. They sent an address to him, suggesting 
that their old laws and Constitution under Penn were 
still in force, and asking him to confirm them. They 

20 



Perm takes Possession 

received a masterly reply reminding them very pointedly 
of their condition. Their old Constitution and laws, 
they were told, had been superseded by the royal com- 
mission. The commission was in force, and Penn's laws 
and Constitution dissolved. This was strong, plain 
doctrine, and should have given the people a taste of 
royal government which neither they nor their de- 
scendants could forget. In the present instance there 
was nothing for them to do but submit, which they did 
as gracefully as they could. 

Fletcher's principal business with them was to obtain 
a supply to assist the province of New York in defend- 
ing its frontiers against the French. He also wanted a 
supply to pay the expense of his own government over 
them ; and the plan he suggested for both was a tax of 
one penny per pound on the clear value of all personal 
estates, and six shillings a head on all who were not 
otherwise rated. 

This was the first experience of the Assembly with 
two questions which were very familiar to most of the 
other colonies, and soon became familiar enough in 
Pennsylvania, — the question of aid to Great Britain in 
carrying, on her wars, and the question of the governor's 
salary. Round these two questions nearly all import- 
ant colonial controversies centred ; and the way in 
which these questions were dealt with, shaped the 
relations of the colonies to the mother-country. 

The success of William and Mary in dethroning the 
Catholic James II. had brought on war with France, 
and the French in Canada directed their efforts against 
the English colonists. These wars with Canada and 
with the Indians under French control continued at 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

intervals until 1764; and during all that time the 
questions were continually debated, — what part of the 
expense the colonies should bear, and whether this 
colony or that colony had furnished its fair share of 
men or money. 

The Pennsylvania Assembly saw at once the essential 
point in all these questions of supplies, and acted as all 
the other colonial assemblies, similarly situated, acted 
for the next eighty years. The governor wanted sup- 
plies, and the Assembly wanted certain laws; and by 
delaying the supplies they could usually secure his con- 
sent to the laws. In the royal colonies this method of 
exchanging supplies for favorable laws became at last 
the only source of liberty left the people ; and the fear 
of losing this last resource through stamp acts and tea 
acts brought on the Revolution. 

In the present instance, however, the dispute with 
Fletcher over these matters was not of long continu- 
ance ; for he was recalled, and the province restored to 
Penn, who had been deprived of it from Oct. 20, 1692, 
to August 20, 1694, exactly a year and ten months. 

Penn was unfortunately still unable to leave England, 
although he had several times attempted it and had 
been on the eve of departure. Thomas Lloyd, the 
excellent Welsh Quaker, and undoubtedly the best man 
for governor, was dead. Markham was appointed 
deputy and given two assistants, John Goodson and 
Samuel Carpenter, by the advice of both or of one of 
whom he must act. This change was in effect to create 
an executive composed of three deputies. 

Markham immediately restored the government to 
the condition it had been in before the arrival of 



Penn takes Possession 

Fletcher. But this did not prevent the Council, which 
assembled in 1695, from entering upon a long debate 
for a new modelling of the Constitution ; and they 
seemed determined to worry out of Markham more 
privileges than Penn had granted them. As soon as he 
wanted a supply bill, they added to it some changes in 
government, so that one could not be rejected without 
the others. They secured an agreement between them- 
selves and the Council which allowed either themselves 
or the Council to originate legislation. When Markham 
announced that he would pass none of their laws until 
they had given a proper supply, the Assembly informed 
him that it was the custom of the Commons in England 
never to give assent to money bills until their privileges 
had been first accorded them, and they intended to be 
no worse off than the Commons. Nothing was left to 
Markham but to be angry and adjourn them, which he 
accordingly did. 

Soon afterward he attempted to coerce them. He 
refused to carry on the old system of Penn. In fact, he 
abrogated it, and began to enforce Fletcher's govern- 
ment, appointing a council like Fletcher's, and calling 
a meeting of the Assembly composed as Fletcher's had 
been. But he overreached himself. The people stood 
firm; and in the end he had to give them a complete 
new frame of government, allowing both Council and 
Assembly the right to originate legislation, allowing the 
Assembly to sit on their own adjournments, and allow- 
ing the governor to perform no public act of treasury 
or trade without the consent of a majority of the 
Council. The old laws and privileges under Penn were 
restored ; and all these provisions were to remain in 

2 3 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

force until changed by the proprietor. This new Con- 
stitution was called " Markham's Frame; " and although 
never formally approved by Perm, it seems to have been 
always regarded as valid, and continued in force until 
1700. It was the foundation of the colony's liberties. 
There were no backward steps, but, on the contrary, an 
increase of popular freedom which was maintained down 
to the Revolution. 

At the close of the year 1699, Penn returned to be 
again governor in person. He was anxious about his 
colony, for many complaints had come to his ears of 
disorders and excesses. But there was nothing seriously 
wrong. It was growing in spite of its many governors; 
and complaints, gossip, and changes were to be expected 
in such a rapid development, where so many races and 
religions were jostling one another. The prosperity of 
Philadelphia had attracted characters not contemplated 
in the ideal of Quaker doctrine; and among the respect- 
able and earnest settlers, lower orders, as they were 
called, began to appear. Some of these had taken 
possession of the caves in the river-bank, which had 
been occupied for a short time by the first immigrants 
before houses were built ; and these caves had now be- 
come the scene of riot and low life. The licensing of 
drinking-houses was then, as ever since, a source of 
much difficulty. But all these things were the inevitable 
troubles of growth ; and the people who wrote about 
them and exaggerated them were mere busybodies or 
foolish ones who expected the impossible. 

Penn had, however, other reasons for returning. He 
was now fifty-five years old ; and since he had left the 
province he had passed through many trying scenes, 

24 



Perm takes Possession 

and borne many burdens. The dangerous years of the 
Revolution of 1688, his struggles for religious liberty and 
for his sect, his journeys, his arrests, and his imprison- 
ments ; and with these the substantial success of so many 
of his undertakings, and the establishment of the prin- 
ciples for which he had contended, — gave him a feeling 
that he had done his part in England and had earned 
a retirement to his wilderness domain. The one point 
where his plans had failed, the impairing of his fortune, 
could be remedied only by going to Pennsylvania. He 
gathered his family about him, took leave of his friends 
and his sect, and sailed for his province with the full 
intention of spending there the remainder of his life. 

A long voyage of three months brought him to 
Chester, in the beginning of December, 1699. The 
next day he went to Philadelphia, where a crowd of the 
people received him at the landing; and he stepped 
ashore, recognizing old acquaintances in his usual 
hearty, unpretentious manner. It was Sunday; and 
after a short formal visit at Markham's house, he went 
in the afternoon to meeting, where he preached, and 
thence to Edward Shippen's, where he lived for the 
next month. 

At the end of that month he took a home for himself 
and his family on the east side of Second Street, between 
Chestnut and Walnut, known down to our own time as 
the " slate-roof house." Soon afterward his son John 
was born there, the only one of his children born in this 
country, and on that account always called "the Amer- 
ican," and always spoken of with peculiar interest and 
respect by the masses of the people. 

The active, bustling life which had been Penn's habit 

25 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

on his first visit was again followed. He travelled over 
the country on horseback, preaching at Quaker meet- 
ings, visiting the Susquehanna, Maryland, and New York ; 
and the rest of his time was filled with meetings of 
Council and Assembly, consultations and amusements, 
and the planting and care of his country-seat, Pennsbury 
Manor. This place had been begun under his own 
directions on his first visit eighteen years before ; and 
while in England he had continued to send over in- 
structions for its improvement. It was situated on the 
river twenty miles above the city, and not far from the 
present town of Bristol. The house cost .£5,000, 
and there were gardens and lawns with terraces 
and an avenue of poplars leading to the water. The 
kitchen, larder, and wash-house, as was common at that 
time, were in separate buildings grouped around the 
main house, and there was a stable for twelve horses. 
Vistas were opened in the neighboring forests, and walks 
laid out among the trees. As soon as spring came, he left 
the slate-roof house and retired to this very luxurious 
abode in the midst of a wilderness. 

The house contained several guest-chambers and 
a large hall for entertaining Indians and holding meet- 
ings of the Provincial Council. It was built of brick 
wainscoted with English oak and furnished in a man- 
ner which, considering the surroundings, may be called 
extravagant. There were Turkey worked chairs, plush 
and satin cushions, satin curtains, and a carpet, which at 
that time was an article seldom seen outside of palaces. 
The liberality of his entertainments may be judged from 
the presence of " six vessels called cisterns for holding 
water or beer." He believed that he understood the art 

26 



Penn takes Possession 

of dining, and had a great contempt for French cookery, 
of which he has left a rather amusing description. 
Madeira was his favorite wine ; but his cellar was not 
without canary, claret, and sack, and he built a brew- 
house as a part of his country-place. He was by far the 
most sumptuous of all the colonial governors, and a 
striking contrast to the economical rulers of New 
England. 

He experimented in cultivating the native wild-flow- 
ers, imported many trees from England and Maryland, 
and employed a landscape-gardener from Europe. 
He brought over with him some fine horses, — on his 
first visit three full-bred mares, and on the second 
visit a famous colt called Tamerlane, a descendant of 
Godolphin. Unlike most of his sect, he approved of 
dancing and sports and encouraged them by his presence. 
He astonished the Indians by his ability in jumping and 
running, a part of his Oxford life which he still retained. 
Judging by the entries in his cash-book, he gave away a 
great deal in charity. He took great pleasure in his 
barge in which he was rowed to and from Philadelphia, 
and he also had a great coach, a light calash, a sedan- 
chair, and saddle-horses for his wife and children. They 
all went to "fairs, or Indian Canticoes." When he felt 
unwilling to meet the Provincial Council at Philadelphia, 
he sent his barge to bring them up to dine with him. 
At a feast he gave the Indians at a great table under the 
trees in front of his house, there are said to have been 
one hundred turkeys, besides venison and other food 
There is also a pleasant tradition of his meeting a little 
barefooted girl as he was riding to meeting, and taking 
her up behind him on his horse. He lived as he was, 

27 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

— an unceremonious, broad-minded man, of great ac- 
quaintance and plentiful estate. 

When the crowd met him at the landing at Philadel- 
phia, there were two men in it who were not there out of 
friendliness, — Col. Robert Quarry, the Judge of Ad- 
miralty, and the advocate of his court, John Moore. 
They were Church of England men, and their office 
in the admiralty was to represent and protect in the 
province the interests of the British crown. They had 
been most industrious in sending complaints to the Com- 
mittee of Plantations and Trade in England, charging 
the colony with harboring pirates, violating the naviga- 
tion laws, providing no military defence, and conducting 
government and administering law by judges and other 
officials who had not been sworn, and who refused to 
administer oaths to others. While in England, Penn's 
position and influence with the Privy Council, of which 
the Committee of Plantations and Trade was a part, had 
prevented any serious result from such complaints. 
But Quarry, being entirely independent of Penn's gov- 
ernment, was an alien influence which could not be 
controlled ; and he and his party, though able to ac- 
complish but little, could always be a nuisance and 
create an alarm that the province might again be seized 
by the crown. 

There was also another troublesome man who rep- 
resented another element. This was David Lloyd, a 
Welsh lawyer, of considerable ability, but of a revengeful, 
bitter nature, and the greatest obstinacy. He was a 
member of the Council, and Penn had made him attorney- 
general of the province. But he now turned against the 
proprietary interest, and began to create what became 

28 



Penn takes Possession 

known as the " popular " party. For the next twenty or 
thirty years he exercised great influence in the Assembly, 
and may be said to have assisted in framing nearly all 
the early laws of the colony, to many of which he is said 
to have given a Welsh coloring. A great deal of his 
leadership of the popular party was entirely justifiable ; 
but his personal attacks on Penn, who had always shown 
him and his family the greatest kindness, disclosed that 
beneath all his ability there was a narrow, mean spirit 
that could not bear the consciousness of owing gratitude 
to another. 

Lloyd was as hostile toward Quarry and the Church- 
men as toward Penn ; and there were thus three parties 
in the province — the proprietary party, the Churchmen, 
and Lloyd's popular party — to squabble among them- 
selves and make trouble. Fortunately Penn had brought 
with him a young man well qualified to resist both 
Quarry and Lloyd. This was the famous James Logan, 
afterward Secretary of the Province, President of the 
Council, and Chief Justice. 

At the meeting of the Assembly in 1700, the great 
question was the revision of the Constitution. The 
amendments allowed by Markham, giving the Assembly 
the right to originate laws and to sit on their own 
adjournments, had been acted under for several years, 
but were not yet formally approved by Penn. In the 
changes of the last fifteen years the validity of the whole 
Constitution had become doubtful. " Was the old frame, " 
said Penn to them, " living, dead, or asleep? Was it 
vacated by Markham's Amendments?" The Assembly 
seemed to be of the opinion that all the old laws were 
still in force; but Penn thought that Markham's settle- 

29 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

ment had put the old frame in abeyance, and it could be 
revived only by writ. He had already acted on this idea 
and had summoned the Assembly then before him by 
his own writ, as if it had no power to meet of itself. 

He thus disregarded the old laws as well as Markham's 
settlement, and placed himself in absolute power. He 
was much given to this assertion of power; and as he 
never used it for an evil purpose or to oppress the 
colonists, it is difficult to find much fault with him. He 
felt that he had already sacrificed a large part of his 
fortune for the province; and his only hope of reim- 
bursing himself, of carrying out his favorite ideas of re- 
ligion and government, and preventing the colony from 
falling into the hands of the king, was to keep it well 
under control. 

The Assembly, however, felt that they had also some- 
thing to preserve. They could not very well stop this 
assumption of power; so they shrewdly pretended to 
take a part in it, and entered in their minutes that it had 
been done with their advice and consent, which they of 
course hoped would be a precedent against its ever again 
being done without their consent. 

But Penn was very gracious, and to settle all doubts 
told them to prepare for themselves a new Constitution 
and embody in it anything they wanted. They seemed 
unable to agree on one, but meantime they formally 
surrendered to him the old one, and were summoned 
to meet again in the autumn. 

They were unable, however, to reach any conclusion 
in their autumn meeting ; nor was anything accomplished 
at -their meeting in August of the following year, 1701. 
Penn's visit was now drawing to a close. He had re- 

30 



Penn takes Possession 

ceived word of what he had always feared. A move- 
ment was on foot in England to have the crown pur- 
chase all the proprietary colonies ; and a bill for that 
purpose was already before the House of Lords. The 
proprietor of Pennsylvania must meet this danger, and 
he made preparations to sail. The August session 
of the Assembly had only just adjourned; but he im- 
mediately called another to meet on the 15th of Septem- 
ber and settle the question of the Constitution before 
his departure. 

The Assembly being met, Penn urged them to review 
their laws and propose new ones, and they soon pre- 
pared for him a long list of twenty-one small requests, 
some of which he granted, and some he refused. Then 
came the Constitution, the Constitution of 1701, as it 
was called; and under it without further change the 
province flourished from that time until the Revolution. 
It was more liberal than any that had preceded it, and 
yet Penn signed it without hesitation or delay. What- 
ever may have been his assertions of supreme power at 
times, — and if he was to maintain his position of feudal 
lord and proprietor it was natural he should err on 
the side of power, — he certainly had no deliberate in- 
tention of oppressing his people. It may be said that 
it was not for his interest to oppress them, and that in 
giving them a liberal constitution he protected himself 
in case the crown should take his government. With 
Pennsylvania a royal colony, Penn would have been 
merely the largest landholder in it, and his lot would 
have been cast in with the people against the crown. 
The more he built up the liberties of the people against 
that evil day, the more chance would he have to protect 

3 1 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

both himself and the people against the oppression of a 
royal governor. 

But independently of any motives we may suppose 
him to have had, there is no doubt that whenever he 
governed in person he was more generous and more 
successful and popular than any deputy he appointed. 
He gave rights and privileges with a free hand. He 
dealt frankly and openly with the people, and, as he 
himself expressed it, yielded in circumstantials to pre- 
serve essentials. He was the only man who could stop 
the petty bickerings and jealousies among the colonists; 
and Pennsylvania would have been a better and greater 
province if he had not returned to England. 

The Constitution which he and the people now agreed 
upon gave to the Assembly the right to originate bills, 
determine their adjournments, choose their Speaker and 
other officers, judge of the qualifications and election 
of their own members, appoint committees, impeach 
State criminals, and to have in general the same powers 
and privileges of an assembly according to the rights of 
freeborn subjects of England as was usual in any of 
the king's plantations in America. The Provincial 
Council as a body elected by the people was abolished. 
Apparently one would suppose there was to be no 
Council, if it were not for a passage which said that 
no cases were to be heard before the governor and 
Council unless they should be constituted by law a 
court of appeals. This side reference to a council is 
hard to understand unless there was a tacit agree- 
ment that Penn should appoint a council. At any 
rate, he immediately appointed one ; and the custom 
was continued by his heirs down to the Revolution 

3 2 



\ 



Penn takes Possession 

the people occasionally protesting that it was uncon- 
stitutional. 

The question of tavern licenses was then as now a 
source of much trouble ; and this Constitution curiously 
enough settled the question as it has since been settled 
in our own time, by authorizing the judges to grant the 
licenses to suitable persons. Liberty of conscience was 
more secure than ever, and this part of the Consti- 
tution, it was declared, could never be changed. The 
rest could be altered by a vote of six-sevenths of 
the Assembly. Election day was fixed for the first 
of October, and remained unchanged down to the 
Revolution. 

Our people lived under this Constitution for seventy- 
five years, — a longer period than they have lived under 
any other frame of government. / The Constitution of 
1776 lasted only fourteen years ; that of 1790 forty-eight 
years ; that of 1838 thirty-five years ; and we are still 
under the Constitution of 1873. The Constitution of 
1 701, which, it will be remembered, was not prepared 
by Penn, but by the Assembly with Penn assenting, was 
thoroughly American. It is impossible to read it with- 
out seeing how like it is to modern instruments of the 
same sort ; and several of its provisions bear a striking 
resemblance to parts of the National Constitution. It 
might readily have lasted more than seventy-five years. 
If it had not been for a faction that was bent on destroy- 
ing the influence of the Quakers, this Constitution, 
like the charters of Rhode Island and of Connecticut, 
might have carried us through the Revolution and 
lasted far down into the present century. 

The Constitution was granted by Penn, and accepted 
3 33 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

by the Assembly, October 28. He then appointed 
Andrew Hamilton, a former governor of the Jerseys, to 
be his deputy, and James Logan to be provincial secre- 
tary and clerk of the Council, and he gave Hamilton a 
council of ten to advise and assist him. This done, and 
having incorporated Philadelphia as a city, he stepped 
aboard the ship " Dalmahoy," which had dropped down 
to New Castle, issued his last letters of instruction and 
farewell, and sailed never to return. 



34 



The Administration of Governor Evans 



CHAPTER II 

THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNOR EVANS 

THE experimental period of the colony's history was 
now finished. The form of government was settled, 
definite relations between proprietor and people estab- 
lished, and life and success assured. 

Those first eighteen or twenty years had been a 
struggle, but an easy one compared with the first years 
in other colonies. There was none of the famine, dis- 
aster, suffering, and Indian massacres through which 
Virginia and Massachusetts struggled into existence. 
The temperate climate, fertile soil, abundance of game, 
and friendliness of the Indians had made pioneering a 
mere holiday adventure. The population increased 
rapidly with English, Welsh, and German immigrants, 
and trade and prosperity followed. 

As soon as Penn had departed, the Territories, as 
Delaware was called, took advantage of a clause in the 
new Constitution which allowed them to break the 
union. This separation, although the Territories were 
afterward somewhat inclined to repent of it, was final. 
From that time until the Revolution, Pennsylvania and 
Delaware, though always under the same governor, 
had separate legislatures. 

Penn's departure for England and the reason for his 
going were a great delight to Quarry and the Church- 

35 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

men. The bill before Parliament to turn the proprietary 
colonies into royal ones was in exact accordance with 
their views. If it should pass, the Quakers would no 
longer rule the province, the executive offices would be 
given to Episcopalians, and the Church of England be 
established by law, as in Virginia. Everything looked 
promising for the Churchmen. They had just suc- 
ceeded with much difficulty in establishing their first 
parish o( Christ Church ; and though overwhelmingly 
outnumbered by Quakers and Germans, the}- would 
soon, if a royal governor were appointed, be able to 
carry their heads above them all. 

Quarry redoubled his diligence to send reports and 
arguments to England. The Quakers, he said, were 
totally unlit to govern, with war prevailing between 
France and England. They would provide no militia, 
and would not even protect themselves from pirates. 
The smallest French privateer might blockade the 
Delaware, destroy all the shipping, and burn every 
town. Their supposed religious liberty and scruples 
of conscience about war and oaths oppressed the 
Churchmen, who were not allowed to protect their lives 
and property by arms against the violence of the 
enemy, and when tried for their life or liberty in court 
were obliged to appear before judges and jurors none 
oi' whom had been sworn. 

Quarry had also many charges to make against 
Penn himself. He had permitted illegal trade; he 
had invaded the jurisdiction o\ the Admiralty; lie 
had invited villanous French Indians to settle in the 
country, so that he could monopolize trade with them, 
together with other supposed offences. All these 

36 



The Administration of Governor Evans 

charges, together with Penn's answers, were laid before 
the Privy Council, and can now be found printed in the 
Penn-Logan correspondence. Penn seems to have had 
no difficulty in convincing the Council that Quarry was 
simply a malicious fault-finder. Indeed, it was some- 
what bold of Quarry to attack a man of such influence; 
for Penn as long as he lived was always a power, no 
matter who was on the throne. 

He stopped the bill in Parliament to change the 
proprietorships to royal colonies; and being a favorite 
with Anne, who had now become Queen of England, 
he returned to his old court life. He took lodgings in 
London ; and his nights and days were busy with con- 
ferences with lawyers, members of Parliament, and 
ministers, to ward off the movement against proprietor- 
ships, resist Lord Baltimore in his boundary dispute, 
and assist the Quakers. It was an expensive life, and 
he describes the guineas as melting away every day. 

He could at one time easily have borne the expense ; 
but now he was losing money by Pennsylvania. On 
the eve of his departure from the province he declared 
that after all the sales of lands he was still £20,000 out 
of pocket. His quit-rents were in arrear ; and he still 
bore the burden of paying the deputy's salary as well 
as the salaries of the attorney-general and several other 
officials. A man who attempts to pay the govern- 
ment expense of a small empire and at the same time 
lead the life of a courtier and travelling preacher must 
needs be very rich. In addition to all this, his son 
William by his first wife had taken up extravagant 
habits while his father was in the province, and was 
another source of loss. 

37 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

But no matter what the expense or risk, Penn could 
not now check himself in his career, or abandon the 
great purposes of his life. He must go on and protect 
his province and his sect, and continue to be the same 
man of influence and prominence. In the midst of all 
his business at court, we find him again moving about 
over England to preach at Quaker meetings, writing 
tracts and pamphlets like " More Fruits of Solitude," 
and a preface to a book in defence of Quaker prin- 
ciples ; and also unfortunately at the same time con- 
tinually borrowing money. 

The administration of Governor Hamilton was a 
short one of only two years ; and until a new deputy 
was appointed, the office devolved on Edward Shippen, 
President of the Council. Quarry was now ready to 
spring a trap he had been preparing. He had obtained 
an order from Queen Anne to enforce in Pennsylvania 
two English statutes, which, while they allowed Quakers 
to affirm, required that those who were willing to take 
an oath should be permitted to do so. He appeared 
with this order before the Council. Two of the mem- 
bers were willing to take an oath, and said they would 
comply with the order. But this did not suit Quarry. 
The Council, he said, was a unit, and he must administer 
the oath to all or none ; and when they refused to 
comply with this ridiculous request, he considered that 
he had something to report to England. 

The collector of customs was, however, called in, 
and administered the oaths in a reasonable way. But 
Quarry could still work mischief with his royal order. 
The Quaker judges were as tender about administering 
an oath to those who wickedly wanted to take it as they 

38 



The Administration of Governor Evans 

were about taking one themselves. Quarry hoped to 
compel the resignation of all of them, and have Church- 
men appointed in their places ; and although he did not 
succeed in this, he compelled the resignation of some, 
suspended the business of the courts, and stirred up a 
great scandal and talk. 

The Council soon raised an interesting constitutional 
dispute with the Assembly men, who believed that under 
the Constitution of 1701 they had a right to adjourn 
whenever they pleased. The Council contended that 
they had a right to adjourn from day to day, or for 
short periods within the session ; but the session could 
be closed and the Assembly adjourned finally until the 
► next session only by the governor and Council. The 
Assembly, however, laughed at them, and fixed their 
adjournment to suit themselves, — a fresh step in the 
establishment of this important popular right which was 
soon settled beyond question. The Council, after the 
manner so often adopted at that time, attempted to pre- 
vent this boldness becoming a precedent by proroguing 
the Assembly to the day to which it had adjourned. 

The new deputy, John Evans, a young Welshman 
twenty-six years old, began his administration in 1704. 
His first act was to refuse his assent to a bill confirming 
the right of the Assembly to adjourn at pleasure, and 
this was the end of all further legislation during the 
session; for the Assembly would pass no bills until 
their favorite measure was approved. 

Perm seems to have approved of Evans' course. He 
had been for some years negotiating for the sale of his 
political power to the crown, in the hope that he would 
in this way be relieved from the expense of maintaining 

39 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

the government for the future, and that the sum received 
would relieve him from his present embarrassment. 
With that load removed and remaining proprietor of 
the land, the sales and quit-rents would in a few years 
restore his fortune. He thought that the stronger 
Evans made the government against the people, and the 
fewer privileges he allowed them, the more the crown 
would be inclined to buy it, and the higher the price 
they would give. The crown would not be likely to 
want to step into the shoes of a weak governor among 
a people who were accustomed to their liberties. In a 
letter to Roger Mompesson, referring to Evans' conduct, 
he says, " What a bargain should I have made for my 
government with the crown. after such a bill had taken 
from me the power I should dispose of." x 

He gained, however, little or nothing by this shrewd- 
ness, for the people were indignant at Evans, and 
the Assembly resolved to send a memorial of their 
grievances to the proprietor. There was not time 
before the end of the session to prepare the memorial 
at length ; but nine resolutions were passed which were 
referred to a committee which prepared the address; 
and the address, after being approved by a second com- 
mittee, was sent to England without ever having been 
submitted to the Assembly. 

It was a long, detailed attack upon the proprietor, full 
of invective, bitterness, and insinuation, and evidently 
prepared or inspired by David Lloyd. Penn was 
accused of having instructed his deputy to resist the 
right of adjournment, of allowing his colonists' con- 
sciences to be oppressed by oaths under royal orders, 

1 Janney's Life of Penn, 478. 

40 



The Administration of Governor Evans 

of suffering their laws to remain unconfirmed by the 
crown, and of extortion and corruption in the sale of 
land. His personal government, it was said, while in 
the province, had been one of resentment and recrimi- 
nation, and he had taken sides with the enemies of the 
province rather than with its friends. The smallest 
point was seized upon, and by adroit language magnified 
against him. He was reminded of his neglect to pay 
Thomas Lloyd's salary while deputy-governor; and he 
was impudently asked if the province was expected to 
discharge it. And finally he was informed that some- 
thing should be done to suppress vice, which had greatly 
increased since the arrival of his son. 

This last allusion to Perm's greatest trouble doubtless 
gave David Lloyd infinite pleasure. Penn's son William, 
though married, and with a family of children, was lead- 
ing a life of dissipation and extravagance which was 
rapidly helping to ruin his father. He was sent out to 
Pennsylvania with Evans, who, it was hoped, would help 
to restrain him ; and letters were written to James Logan 
and the influential Quakers to do all they could to 
change the young man's course of life. He was made 
a member of Council, the house at Pennsbury was pre- 
pared for him, and attempts made to occupy his mind 
with hunting and visits to the Indians. He promised 
well at first, and Logan felt much encouraged. But 
soon his real disposition got the better of him. He 
consorted much with the young governor, whose youth 
and propensities were not as restraining as had been 
expected ; and very soon the pair got into a drunken 
row at night in which, after the old English roistering 
fashion, they attempted to beat the watch. 

41 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

The memorial of grievances prepared by Lloyd and 
the rest of the committee, which was never submitted 
to the Assembly and never seen by them, was signed 
by Lloyd as Speaker, long after the Assembly had 
adjourned, when he was no longer its Speaker. To 
overcome this irregularity, he had interlined in the 
minutes, as Logan charges, an order authorizing this 
signing. At the next meeting of the Assembly the 
memorial was read, and being disapproved, Lloyd, who 
was again Speaker, was ordered to recall it, which he 
did, but accompanied the recall with a private letter to 
the bearer, instructing him not to execute the recall. 

The memorial was not at all popular among the 
people of the province ; and there was a strong reaction 
in favor of Penn, which for a time quite unseated Lloyd 
and the anti-proprietary party. They were obliged to 
smooth over matters with respectful and affectionate 
expressions for the founder, and to vote ,£1,200 for the 
support of government, besides the proceeds of a tax 
on wines and spirits. 

Evans, in spite of all his folly, was now in a triumph- 
ant position ; and he sought to revenge himself on the 
Assembly of 1705 by prosecuting Biles, one of its mem- 
bers, who had said of him, " Me is but a boy; he is not 
fit to govern; we will kick him out." He brought suit 
against Biles in the courts, and attempted to have the 
process served on him while the Assembly was in 
session. He demanded that the Assembly should expel 
him, and raised a small tempest with them, at the end of 
which he ordered them to adjourn; and instead of stand- 
ing on their own right to adjourn, for which they had 
fought for over twenty years, the Assembly broke up 

42 



The Administration of Governor Evans 

and scattered, and a quorum could not be kept together. 
This was the result of David Lloyd's leadership and 
excess. The violence of his attack upon the proprietor 
had produced such an overwhelming tide of popular 
feeling in the proprietor's favor that for the time the 
courage of the Assembly was destroyed and the people's 
liberties eclipsed. 

The next Assembly of 1706 was as well behaved and 
as moderate as possible. Only eleven members of the 
former house were returned ; and of these, seven were 
favorable to the governor. They passed excellent laws, 
forbidding the sale of Indian slaves, and placing a duty 
on the importation of black ones. They were loyal to 
the proprietor as well as to his young deputy. Every- 
thing was in Evans' favor ; and if he had only used a 
little discretion, he might have continued for a long time 
in that state. 

He was trying to organize a militia, and believed it 
very necessary to do something of this sort, or at least 
have the appearance of doing it, in order to withstand 
those in England who were trying to turn the proprietor- 
ships into royal provinces. The war with France and 
Spain had been severely felt in the New England 
provinces ; and it was feared that privateers or men-of- 
war might at any time enter the Delaware and land a 
force. The youthful and bumptious Evans had no 
faith in the sincerity of the Quaker principles against 
war. He believed they would fight like other people 
the moment they thought their property or their lives 
in danger, and he set about giving them that thought. 
He arranged his plans for the day of the annual fair in 
Philadelphia, and had a messenger arrive in great haste 

43 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

and terror, with the news that the French had entered 
the river in force, and were moving on the city. Buck- 
ling on his sword and mounting his horse, the governor 
rode up and down among the people, entreating them 
to arm and assemble for the public defence. 

Logan is charged with having taken part in these 
extraordinary proceedings, and is said to have exhibited 
pretended signals from the river and displayed the 
French colors from the mast of a sloop. But in his 
letters to Penn he speaks of himself as having seen 
through the device from the beginning, and as having 
opposed it. To have taken part in it was certainly not 
like all the rest we know of his character, and there is 
every reason to suppose that what he has said of his 
opposition to it was true. 

Evans succeeded in creating a panic among some of 
the people. The large vessels were sailed up the river 
to Burlington; the small boats hidden in the creeks; 
silver and valuables thrown into wells ; and several 
pregnant women untimely delivered. But the greater 
part of the Quakers were undismayed ; most of them 
attended their religious meeting, and only four attended 
with their weapons at the meeting. 

The farce was soon over, and what it could have 
accomplished in any event is difficult to see. But 
Evans evidently thought that he could, by this sudden 
excitement, break the spell of Quaker doctrine and 
recruit the whole sect into militiamen. But instead of 
breaking the spell of Quaker doctrine, he broke the 
spell of his own success as a governor. The people 
were again disgusted with him ; and the Assembly that 
met in September, 1706, denied his power to erect 

44 



The Administration of Governor Evans 

courts of law without their consent. The election held 
the next month returned an Assembly entirely against 
him, and Lloyd was again in power. 

The great question of debate was now the bill for 
establishing a judiciary. The Assembly had prepared 
one providing for a supreme court, county courts, and 
quarter sessions for criminal cases. Evans resisted 
every part of it, and insisted on the right of the pro- 
prietor to create such courts as he pleased. He also 
insisted that the proceeds of granting tavern licenses 
and all fines and forfeitures should go to the proprietary 
instead of being appropriated, as the Assembly wished, 
to the paying of judges' salaries and other government 
expenses. 

The fines and the payments for licenses were likely 
to increase with years ; and the Assembly feared that if 
they all went to the proprietor, he might become too 
rich and independent, and their liberty be endangered. 
They were fully impressed with the importance of that 
fundamental principle of colonial constitutional law, 
that the governor, whether royal or proprietary, must 
be kept poor ; that his salary or income must never 
become a fixed sum, but must be dependent on the 
favor and grants of the people. On this question and 
on the right of the proprietor to create courts of law, 
they contended with all the oldtime courage and 
keenness they had shown before Lloyd's memorial put 
them at the mercy of the governor. 

A conference between the governor and the Assembly 
was proposed and held ; and it might have turned out 
favorably if Evans had not been the champion on one 
side, and Lloyd on the other. They were soon in a 

45 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

personal altercation, demanding apologies from one 
another; and as the Assembly supported Lloyd and 
neither side would yield, all hope of compromise failed, 
and Evans established a judiciary by proclamation in 
accordance with the powers he claimed. 

The Assembly now determined to strike at Logan, 
the secretary, who was supposed to have much influence 
over Evans and to be the author of much of his policy. 
He was accordingly formally impeached by the Assem- 
bly, and thirteen articles or charges exhibited against him. 
This brought on another long controversy, in which 
the popularity of Evans was by no means increased. 
Logan was not tried on the articles of impeachment; 
and the Assembly, finding they could do nothing either 
with the secretary or the governor, decided to appeal 
to Penn himself by means of a remonstrance to be 
more carefully worded than the memorial which Lloyd 
had prepared. 

The document when completed was not altogether a 
direct attack on Penn, and contained nothing offensive. 
He was reminded, however, in the first sentence of it 
that if the evil practices of his deputy and secretary 
were not remedied, the Assembly must appeal to the 
Queen. He had neglected, they said, to have his 
people relieved from administering oaths, which had 
kept many Quakers from government employment, 
and without Quakers in the government it could not 
be restored to its original purity. He had not settled 
the Maryland boundary, which caused great difficulty 
with land titles near the line ; and although they had 
given him ,£2,000 in consideration of his obtaining the 
royal sanction for their laws, the best of them had been 

46 



The Administration of Governor Evans 

repealed. This was all the direct complaint of Penn 
they had to make ; and the rest of the remonstrance was 
taken up with the mal-administration of Evans, who in 
addition to his political offences was charged with gross 
immoralities with the Indians. 

Perm's troubles were now increasing fast, with debts 
piling up upon him ; and he was also beginning to feel 
the first symptoms of the gout. The French privateers 
and the disgraceful administration of Evans checked 
the growth of the province and made it more and more 
of a burden to its proprietor. The produce of the 
colony could not be sold. Vessels sent to sea were 
next heard of as prizes in the admiralty courts of 
France, and some of the richest merchants lost a large 
part of their estates. Wheat, flour, and salted pro- 
visions, which had in the early clays of the province 
brought enormous prices, were now a drug upon the 
market. Not only were the sales of land and collec- 
tions of quit-rents retarded, but the people and their 
Assembly, exasperated by the deputy Penn had ap- 
pointed, refused to vote him supplies, and left the 
expense of government to be paid by the proprietor. 
In a letter written to Logan in 1704, Penn had said: 

"O Pennsylvania, what hast thou cost me? Above ^£30,000 
more than I ever got by it, two hazardous and most fatiguing 
voyages, my straits and slavery here, and my child's soul al- 
most." 

By the reference to his child he meant that during 
his absence in the province his son William had taken 
up the extravagant habits and the keeping of "top 
company," as he called it, which were now proving to 
be his ruin. Penn always thought that if he had stayed 

47 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

in England with his son, instead of going to Pennsylvania, 
the son would not have taken up such evil courses; and 
he rather unfairly blamed the result on the province. 

But besides this son, his daughter Letitia had married 
a young merchant, William Aubrey, and the economy of 
this son-in-law was worse than the extravagance of the 
son. Aubrey was very much of a man of business, — 
" a scraping man," Penn called him ; and he insisted on 
the prompt payment of his wife's portion in a way that 
materially assisted to bring the founder of Pennsylvania 
to his sad end. 

In the mean time, Penn had for several years been 
under another financial difficulty, revealed only to a 
few, but now, at the close of Evans' administration, 
brought to light. He had had for some time a steward, 
or manager, Philip Ford, who took charge of his estates 
in England and Ireland. Ford was supposed to be a 
most exemplary Quaker; and like all others whom he 
employed, Penn trusted him implicitly and grew fond 
of him. He took particular pains that Ford should 
have ten thousand acres in Pennsylvania, a city lot in 
Philadelphia, and one hundred and fifty acres in the 
suburbs as a present, and seemed to think that he was 
scarcely giving him enough. Ford seems to have 
thought so too, for he took additional means to enrich 
himself. He rendered accounts from time to time 
which Penn received and set aside without exami- 
nation and without even opening them. Finally, 
when an investigation was made, it appeared that al- 
though Ford had received £17,000 of Penn's money 
and expended only £16,000, yet Penn owed him 
£10,500. He accomplished this result by charging 

48 



The Administration of Governor Evans 

compound interest at eight per cent every six months 
on all advances, to which he added large commissions 
charged again and again on the same sum, and an 
enormous salary. He allowed Penn no interest on 
receipts, and sometimes failed to set down money 
received. 

When the debt against Penn was already large, Ford 
pressed for payment. Penn still neglected to make an 
investigation, and as security for the debt foolishly gave 
Ford a deed in fee simple of the colony. Some time 
afterward he committed another piece of folly, and 
accepted from Ford a lease of the province. The lease 
was of course strong evidence to show that the deed was 
intended to be an absolute conveyance ; and yet there is 
no doubt that the transaction between the two men was 
regarded by both of them as only a mortgage. 

During Ford's lifetime the whole affair was kept 
secret; it was never known that the great proprietor 
had been juggled out of his colony by a book-keeper. 
But when Ford died, his widow and son made every- 
thing public, declared that the deed passed an absolute 
title, and professed to be the owners of Pennsylvania. 
They treated Penn as their tenant, and brought suit 
against him for £3,000 rent in arrear, and, having ob- 
tained a judgment for that amount, had Penn arrested 
and imprisoned for debt. They even went so far as to 
attempt to get a proclamation from the crown declaring 
them to be the proprietors of Pennsylvania, and com- 
manding the colonists to obey them. 

For nine months Penn was confined in the Old Bailey, 
where he was visited by his friends and displayed all 
that serene courage and endurance which had upheld 
4 49 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

him in so many difficulties. The Fords had gone a 
little too far in having him imprisoned, for such severe 
treatment of a great man brought him unusual sympathy 
and assistance. 

Isaac Norris, one of the prominent men of the colony, 
was in England, and did everything in his power for the 
proprietor, and assisted to raise money and compromise 
with the Fords. The sum of ,£7,600 was finally agreed 
upon as a settlement ; but difficulties arose about the 
complaints that had reached England from the colony. 
The old memorial sent by David Lloyd and the later 
remonstrance of the Assembly against Evans were in 
the hands of three sturdy Quakers, — George White- 
head, William Meade, and Thomas Lowther, agents of 
the people of the colony, and not altogether in accord 
with Penn. They made good use of Penn's position to 
force him to recall Evans, and their visits to him in the 
Old Bailey were effectual. The money was raised, a 
mortgage given on the province to secure it, Evans 
was dismissed, and Penn was a free man. 



50 



The Administration of Gookin 



CHAPTER III 

THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOOKIN AND THE 
DEATH OF PENN 

The deputy appointed to take Evans' place was 
Col. Charles Gookin, who began his administration 
in 1709. Perm, as usual, was infatuated with him, and 
described him to his friends in the province as a man 
of good family, the grandson of Sir Vincent Gookin, 
an early planter in Ireland in the days of King James 
and King Charles, highly recommended by prominent 
men, a soldier weary of war, anxious to retire to peace- 
ful Pennsylvania and leave there his fortune and his 
bones. 

The Assembly was in session when Gookin arrived, 
the same angry, anti-proprietary Assembly that had 
been attacking Evans; and from force of habit its first 
act was to address Gookin on the subject of his pre- 
decessor, asking that he might still be prosecuted and 
punished, and intimating that he had been influenced 
by certain evil counsel, which was a hit at Logan. 
The governor quieted them by saying that he had no 
authority to punish Evans, but that he was ready to 
redress any other grievances they had, and that it 
would be well to lay aside all the old animosities and 
jealousies and apply themselves to the business of the 
hour. 

51 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

But the Assembly under the leadership of Lloyd 
were in a captious mood. They were soon making 
petty complaints of the governor. When he wanted 
one hundred and fifty men and money for the expe- 
dition against Canada, they replied that they could not 
in conscience raise money to hire men to kill one 
another, but in gratitude to the Queen for many favors 
they would present her with ,£500. This the governor 
refused ; and the Assembly would make no change 
except that £300 of the grant should be for Indian 
expenses, and the remaining £200 for the governor's 
own use, provided he should concur in their bills. 

In refusing to accept their amended grant, the gov- 
ernor brought on another quarrel by accidentally letting 
it be known that his instructions prohibited him from 
passing any law without the consent of his Council. 
This the Assembly thought a violation of the Constitu- 
tion. The Council, which had been given no legislative 
power nor even existence by the Constitution of 1701, 
was by this means, they said, to be given a secret 
control of legislation; and the Assembly would never 
know who was the real cause of their grievances, the 
governor or some member of his Council. The object 
of the instructions was, they thought, to give Logan, 
already predominant in the Council, a greater power 
than ever, and enable him to control not only the 
governor, but the Assembly ; and the Assembly there- 
upon proceeded to state their opinion of Logan, who 
had been the cause, they said, of all the evil in the last 
government. 

Soon after this the Assembly adjourned ; and the 
election held in October of that year, 1709, returned a 

52 



The Administration of Gookin 

body of the same complexion, with the anti-proprietary 
party still in power and Lloyd for its Speaker. They 
immediately began a quarrel with Logan, in which he 
defended himself with his usual ability, and so exas- 
perated them with taunts on their past conduct and 
treatment of Penn that they ordered his arrest, and he 
was taken on the warrant of the Speaker. 

The governor released him on the ground that the 
Assembly could not arrest any one outside of its own 
membership, and least of all a member of the Council. 
Logan embarked for England, and laid before Penn the 
whole subject of his controversy with the Assembly, 
including the former articles of impeachment ; and after 
an investigation he was acquitted of all blame. 

But still greater triumphs awaited him and Penn in 
the province. The Assembly had again gone too far. 
The people were convinced that Evans and his abuses 
were entirely disposed of, and they began to have 
confidence in Gookin. At the next election in October, 
1 710, they returned an Assembly every member of 
which was of the proprietary party. Lloyd was so 
discomfited that he went to live in Chester, and for 
the next two years he and his friends were seldom 
heard of. 

This change in the feeling of the people as soon as 
they saw the prospect of a little good government shows 
that Penn was in reality very popular among them, and 
that if he had governed in person or appointed fairly 
discreet deputies there would have been no anti- 
proprietary party and few difficulties. 

In June, 17 10, while Logan was in England, and 
probably at his suggestion, Penn wrote a long letter to 

53 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

the people of the province, which, if it had arrived before 
the election, would have made the result more certain. 
Coming afterward as it did, it strengthened the hands 
of his friends and confirmed the people in their regard 
for him. It was a pathetic letter, with many touches of 
feeling: — 

" The many combats I have engaged in, the great pains and 
incredible expence to your welfare and ease, to the decay of 
my former estate, of which (however some there would repre- 
sent it) I too sensibly feel its effects, with the undeserved 
opposition I have met with from thence, sink me into sorrow 
that, if not supported by a superior hand, might have over- 
whelmed me long ago. And I cannot but think it hard 
measure, that, while that has proved a land of freedom and 
flourishing, it should become to me, by whose means it was 
principally made a country, the cause of grief trouble and 
poverty." 

He goes on to speak of what they had called their 
grievances, dealing with them in the same gentle, 
kindly spirit he had always shown when in direct com- 
munication with his people, and then goes on to state 
some of his own grievances : — 

" The attacks on my reputation ; the many indignities put 
upon me in papers sent over hither into the hands of those who 
could not be expected to make the most discreet and chari- 
table use of them ; the secret insinuations against my justice, 
besides the attempt made upon my estate ; resolves passed in 
the Assemblies for turning my quit-rents, never sold by me, to 
the support of government ; my lands entered upon without 
any regular method ; my manors invaded (under pretence I 
had not duly surveyed them) and both these by persons princi- 

54 



The Administration of Gookin 

pally concerned in these attempts against me here ; a right to 
my overplus land unjustly claimed by the possessors of the 
tracts in which they are found ; my private estate continually 
exhausting for the support of that government, both here and 
there, and no provision made for it by that country; to all 
which I cannot but add the violence that has been particularly 
shown to my Secretary." 

They were not an oppressed people, he said. The 
trifles of which they complained showed that they were 
strangers to real oppression. They complained that 
officers' fees were not settled by Act of Assembly. By 
all means, let them settle those fees and make them such 
as to encourage fit persons to undertake the offices. 
They had complained of the tavern licenses; but that 
matter was now settled. They should remember that 
the eyes of all Europe were upon them ; that many 
nations looked to them as a land of ease and quiet, 
wishing to themselves in vain the same blessings. 

" What are the distresses, grievances and oppressions, that 
the papers, sent from thence, so often say you languish under, 
while others have cause to believe you have hitherto lived or 
might live, the happiest of any in the Queen's dominions." 

This last criticism of Penn's is one which might be 
applied all through the colonial history of Pennsylvania. 
As we read the political history of the province, the 
doings of its Assembly, and the squabbles with the 
various governors, we might suppose it one of the most 
distracted and troubled commonwealths on earth, al- 
ways in difficulties and always struggling for something 
it could not get. So strong is this impression that some 
writers have gone so far as to say that the common 

55 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

belief in the prosperity and ease of life in the province 
was a mere delusion. But such people are much misled. 
The men who carried on these contests went home in 
the evening to very cheerful firesides. Their wealth 
rapidly increased in spite of the supposed oppression 
of the proprietors ; and there were few, if any, other 
colonies where the people enjoyed more amusements 
and pleasures. The severity of the language with which 
they contended with the governors did not always ex- 
press a personal animosity ; and Franklin in one of his 
best stories tells us how he used to abuse a certain 
deputy-governor all day in the Assembly, and then 
dine with him in friendly intercourse in the evening. 
They were hearty Saxon spirits, jealous of the slightest 
infraction of their liberties, but not disposed to grow 
frantic or hysterical, or lose any of their sleep or 
pleasure. 

Their ways were plain and simple. When the hour 
for the Assembly meeting came, a bell was rung, prob- 
ably a very necessary ceremony to bring them together 
from the taverns and houses where they were gossiping. 
The same bell was tolled when they adjourned. As the 
shadows lengthened and the sun sank below the houses 
of the little town, a member would move that candles 
be brought in; and the minutes invariably record that 
" candles were brought in accordingly." 

The method of their proceedings is spread out before 
us in their minutes, — most interesting volumes, which 
show these Quaker legislators to have been very busi- 
ness-like and well skilled in the parliamentary arts. 
Their constant intercourse with the deputy-governor 
was conducted by message and reply; and when there 

56 



The Administration of Gookin 

was no message of the governor to furnish a basis for a 
reply, they addressed him by remonstrance or memorial. 
These messages and replies, or remonstrances, appear 
in the minutes every few pages, and are all of striking 
ability. The messages of the governors are very digni- 
fied and well expressed in rich, idiomatic old English; 
and one is very apt to be persuaded that the governor 
is right until he reads the sarcastic reply of the Assembly. 
The members of the Assembly, and especially David 
Lloyd, became very skilful in drawing up replies which 
would be entirely respectful, and yet contain a sting. 

Lloyd was a learned man in his way and a very astute 
lawyer ; and the keen practical sense on all questions of 
English constitutional history and law which the Assem- 
bly showed was doubtless largely due to him. He went 
to extremes at times ; but it must be said in his excuse 
that he was on those occasions often leading the people 
against the acts of very unsuitable deputies who should 
not have been appointed. On ordinary occasions, and 
when his spite against Penn was not aroused, he was a 
very efficient and useful Assembly man, and his temper 
seems to have improved with age. He and Joseph 
Wilcox seem to have drawn the greater part of the 
Assembly's replies. Franklin afterward performed the 
same service, and was always very proud of his work. 
Indeed, the man who could frame these replies so that 
they would be effective, not merely with the governor, 
but with the people, who learned of their contents at the 
coffee-house, became very naturally an important person 
in the colony. 

The Assembly was a small body, composed of only 
about twenty-five or thirty members, and could manage 

57 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

its business very easily, meet at the governor's house, if 
in conference with him, or at the treasurer's office or the 
loan office, if investigating accounts. They were true 
tribunes of the people, and in their course of ninety 
odd years built up a goodly fabric of civil liberty. 

In reading their history, however, in these years, we 
must remember that it is not the history of the whole 
people of the province, but merely the political doings 
of the sect that was in power. While the Quakers were 
controlling the Assembly, fighting the deputies, and 
developing constitutional liberty, thousands and thou- 
sands of people, consisting of Germans and Scotch-Irish, 
were arriving in the province and scattering themselves 
among the woods and mountains without taking any 
part in the government. These people in the course of 
years far outnumbered the Quakers; and yet, though 
composing the majority of inhabitants, they lived to 
themselves, and had language, literature, customs, and a 
history of their own, separate from the political history 
that was made by the Quakers. When the French and 
Indian wars reached the Pennsylvania frontier, the 
Scotch-Irish and the Germans began to take a more 
active part in affairs, but until that time they left every- 
thing to the Quakers. 

Penn's letter having been read in the Quaker meet- 
ings and the prospects being favorable for a good ad- 
ministration from Gookin, the ruling class or sect were 
now in a very easy humor. Pills were rapidly passed 
by the new Assembly. With the assistance of the 
governor, and in spite of the disapproval of his bill by 
the crown, they succeeded in establishing some sort of 
judiciary system. Gookin yielded them the right to 

5 s 



The Administration of Gookin 

adjourn at pleasure; and when the usual application 
came for money to assist in the war against Canada, 
they were very compliant, and voted the sum of £2,000. 
They regulated the fees of officers, established a regular 
revenue, and, by these and other wholesome laws, gave 
the province a more settled and substantial government. 
In this way five peaceful years, 171 1 to 17 16, passed 
away. 

Those years were a great relief to Penn ; and it was 
fitting that his last days should see some respite from 
the troubles the province had caused him. The settle- 
ment of the Ford claim helped him, for it stopped a 
most exhausting drain on his resources; and under a 
new manager his estates in England and Ireland began 
to bring in some returns. He was now in the decline 
of life, being nearly seventy years old. He had ceased 
from his active work at court ; for nearly everything 
that could be accomplished for his sect had been done, 
and there was but little more to do even for the cause 
of the proprietary colonies. He was becoming gouty, 
and the cessation from active life probably increased 
the disease. 

It was about this time or a little earlier that he had 
become very stout; and several of the pictures of him 
were doubtless produced by persons who knew him in 
this stage of his life, and in some of them he looks like 
a fat, prosperous butcher. But we may console our- 
selves with the thought that none of these pictures were 
taken from life, but only from recollection or description. 
The only authentic portrait we have of him is the one 
taken when he was a young soldier of twenty-one, with 
a beautiful, fresh, expressive face, and the long hair and 

59 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

armor of a Cavalier. The bronze statue on the City 
Hall in Philadelphia, in which he appears tall, well pro- 
portioned, and strong, is probably as it is intended to be, 
a very faithful representation of him as he was in his 
prime, when he first took possession of Pennsylvania. 

As he felt himself growing old, his great object was 
still to sell the government of the province, pay his 
debts, and restore his family to prosperity. He grasped 
eagerly at the report of a silver mine in the Allegheny 
Mountains. He was solicitous, he said, " to pry into 
this affair whence help may arrive to deliver me." But 
he was soon convinced that there was more chance for 
help in a sale to the crown than in anything the Alle- 
ghenies contained. His great difficulty was in the con- 
ditions on which the sale must be made. He wanted 
money ; but he also had a great reputation to maintain. 
He could not sell his right in a way that would jeopard- 
ize the principles on which the colony was founded and 
its civil and religious liberty; and it must also remain 
a secure asylum for the Quakers. All this must be 
secured before he received a shilling ; and so particular 
was he on this point in negotiating with the officers of 
the crown that the sale was delayed, and delayed until 
it could not be accomplished. 

He, however, had brought the matter to a state that 
was almost satisfactory when, on the 4th of October, 
171 2, while writing to Logan, he was stricken with 
paralysis. He recovered in a few months so far as to go 
on with the negotiations and come to an agreement, with 
a deed ready to be signed, and ,£1,000 was paid him on 
account of the purchase-money, which was to be^"i8,i5 - 
But again he was stricken with paralysis, which this time 

60 



The Administration of Gookin 

reached his mind ; and the deed would not have been 
valid if he had signed it. The sale was never completed ; 
and the great proprietor lingered for six years with a 
clouded intellect, gradually growing weaker and weaker. 

He lived at that time at Ruscombe near Twyford in 
a large house, too large for his means, where he was 
tenderly nursed by his faithful wife, and seemed to find 
pleasure in wandering from room to room. At times 
he was taken to meeting, where he was sometimes able 
to speak a few sentences. He was very cheerful, and 
glad to see his friends, who described him as very de- 
fective in memory, but with occasional flashes of intel- 
ligence and clear statement which showed that his strong 
mind was not yet entirely subdued. 

Fortunately, during these six years when he was 
gradually sinking to his grave, the province was quiet, 
and his wife had no difficulty in managing it. In 171 3, 
the year after he was stricken with paralysis, peace was 
declared ; and the trade of the Delaware River im- 
mediately began to revive. This was the event for 
which he had been waiting many years. He had even 
hesitated in selling the government, expecting that he 
might hear of the cessation of hostilities at any time. 
He was confident that, as soon as peace came, his returns 
from sales of land and quit-rents would enormously 
increase, and soon place him beyond any necessity of 
selling. But now the good time had come when his 
mind could scarcely appreciate it, and the results had 
hardly time to gather much headway before he had 
ceased to live. 

Everything, however, was easier. The Assembly bore 
part of the expense of government, which had hitherto 

61 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

depended entirely on Penn ; and they began by giving 
Gookin ,£150. The proprietor had agreed to give 
him ,£200 a year, and the Assembly usually gave him 
about /"500 annually; but the appropriations on which 
the Assembly's grant depended were very irregularly 
paid, and the governor felt far from secure in his income. 
He was a bachelor, and had been chosen, it is said, for 
that reason, because it was thought he would be a cheap 
governor. But he was none the less persistent in his 
demands on the Assembly. He never lost an op- 
portunity to worry money out of them; and continual 
disappointment in these endeavors is said to have 
brought on his final quarrel with them. 

He is supposed to have become a little deranged; for 
he quarrelled in a most extraordinary way with the As- 
sembly of 1 714, because they had not a quorum on the 
first day of their meeting, and refused to recognize them, 
and he soon had another opportunity to make a mistake. 
The royal orders which Quarry had obtained, compelling 
oaths to be administered to those who were willing to 
take them, were still giving trouble. They did not ac- 
complish their object of keeping the Quakers as a body 
out of office; but they undoubtedly prevented certain 
strict members of the sect from accepting office, and in 
any event were to be gotten rid of, if possible. 

The colonists had a very convenient way of dealing 
with matters of this sort. Their laws had to be sent to 
England for approval within five years, and were valid 
unless disapproved by the crown within six months after 
the expiration of that time. But meanwhile the people 
would live under the law for five years, and when it was 
disapproved pass it again and live under it for another 

62 



The Administration of Gookin 

period. The history of quite a number of their laws 
shows them to have been re-enacted at regular intervals 
of five years. They took this course with the question of 
oaths. In 1704, soon after Quarry obtained the orders, 
they passed a bill substituting affirmations for oaths ; but 
Evans, who was deputy at that time, refused to sign it. 
In 17 10 they passed a similar bill, which was signed by 
Gookin and became a law, but was afterward disap- 
proved by the crown, and now in 171 5 they passed the 
same bill again, which Gookin also signed. 

But Queen Anne had died in 17 14, and under George 
I., who was now on the throne, an Act of Parliament 
was passed, extending to the colonies for five years an 
Act of William III., intended to prevent Quakers from 
giving evidence in criminal cases, sitting on juries, or 
holding any office under government. This was exactly 
what the Church of England party in the province had 
always insisted should be the law, and they were ac- 
cordingly much gratified. Gookin made the great 
mistake of his life by taking sides with them, and de- 
claring that the new Act of Parliament repealed the law 
of the province allowing affirmations, which he had just 
signed. He could not be moved from this position by 
the entreaties of the Council, or by the Assembly. 

The address sent him by the Assembly argued the 
question most ably, and seems to have been prepared 
by Lloyd. It was impossible, he urged, that an act 
preventing Quakers from being witnesses in criminal 
cases could apply to Pennsylvania. It would defeat 
the administration of justice. So many of the people 
were Quakers that there might be many instances in 
which the only witnesses to the most atrocious crimes 

63 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

would be of that faith, and one instance had already 
occurred in which a murderer had escaped under this Act 
of Parliament. The Act, if valid in the province, would 
also render void the whole government of the province 
and all its acts ; for if no Quaker could hold office, then 
everything done by the proprietor or through his au- 
thority was annulled. The Act allowing affirmations 
recently passed was, by the royal charter, a law unless 
directly vetoed by the king within five years ; and the 
Act of Parliament could not by mere implication repeal 
this provincial Act. The colonists had a right by their 
charter to live under their own law until the king 
expressly disallowed it. 

Not satisfied with arousing the enmity of the whole 
Quaker community on the subject of oaths, Gookin 
attacked the characters of Hill, the Speaker of the As- 
sembly, and of Logan, accusing them of favoring the 
pretender to the English throne. There was not the 
slightest evidence for these extraordinary accusations ; 
and such a deputy, no matter what his merits might 
have been in the past, could no longer be endured. 
The whole Council joined in an address to Perm, 
asking for his recall. This was in 171 6, when the 
proprietor was far too weak in his mind to attend to such 
matters. But Mrs. Penn received the address and, by 
great good luck or good judgment, appointed Sir 
William Keith. The office did not have to go begging, 
for in a letter to Logan she mentions one applicant who 
offered to pay £200 for the position. But she declined 
all such candidates and took the man who was most 
highly recommended by her friends. 

Penn had now grown very weak and could no longer 

64 



The Administration of Gookin 

walk without assistance. But his powerful constitution 
yielded slowly, and the decline was gradual and steady, 
until, on the 30th of July, 1718, he died in the seventy- 
fourth year of his age. The Indians, when they heard 
of the death of Onas, as they called him, — the man of 
treaties unbroken and friendships inviolate, — sent his 
widow a present which they said was " material for a 
garment of skins suitable for travelling through a thorny 
wilderness;" and Mrs. Perm replied that she wished to 
put it on, " having the woods and wilderness to travel 
through, indeed." 

5 6 5 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 



CHAPTER IV 

MRS. PENN BECOMES PROPRIETARY 

Penn had been twice married. By his first wife, 
Gulielma Maria Springett, he had two children, — a 
son William, who had caused him so much trouble by 
his dissipation, and a daughter, who was now Letitia 
Aubrey. By his will he left to this son William all 
his estates in England and Ireland, inherited from his 
father and his first wife, and to Letitia Aubrey, in 
addition to the marriage portion already given her, ten 
thousand acres of land in Pennsylvania. The English 
and Irish estates left to William were worth ,£1,500 a 
year, and in direct returns were more valuable at this 
time than Pennsylvania. 

He disposed of Pennsylvania by leaving it to his 
second wife, who survived him, and her father, Thomas 
Callowhill, and others, in trust to pay his debts and 
give legacies of ten thousand acres each to his daughter 
Letitia and to the children of his son William, and 
after that to convey the remainder, in such portions as 
his wife should think best, to his children by her, — 
John, Thomas, Margaret, Richard, and Dennis, — who 
were at the time of his death all under age. 

The government of Pennsylvania and Delaware, 
which was always distinct from the ownership of the 
land he gave by his will to the Earl of Oxford, Earl 

66 



% 

Mrs. Penn becomes Proprietary 

Mortimer, and Earl Pawlet, in trust to sell to the 
crown. These noblemen, however, were in doubt as 
to their power to act in this trust, because it was a 
question whether the trust was valid against William, 
the heir-at-law, and there was also a question whether 
the trust to sell was necessary when there was already 
in existence an agreement to sell to the crown. 

A chancery suit was instituted to test these ques- 
tions, and meanwhile William claimed the government 
as heir-at-law. But the trustees never accomplished a 
sale; and the death of William in about two years, and 
of his son Springett some years after, left Pennsylvania 
to the children of the second wife. 

While the chancery suit was in progress, and William 
and his son Springett were alive, there was much un- 
certainty as to the person who, of right, controlled 
the government. William several times undertook to 
assume it, and issued orders and instructions. But no 
one paid much attention to him, partly because of his 
well-known character, and principally because there 
was a conviction in most minds that the trustees who 
were to sell the government were the true legal owners 
of it. The trustees, however, declined to take any 
part, either in selling or governing; and after the death 
of William, his son, Springett Penn, the heir-at-law, 
always seems to have acted in full accord with his step- 
mother. By a compromise of all interests, therefore, 
Mrs. Penn became in effect the owner of both the land 
and the government as executrix and guardian of the 
children, probably the only instance in history of a 
woman occupying the feudal office of Lord Proprietor 
of such a great province. 



Pennsj Colony md Co ionvt ealth 

rule was \ a j muc i facilitated -\ Ke '■. w ho 

\ i in t bo - 1 le 

o s ; Scotchman family, a] 

familial with ce as well as w I i 

sun eyor of < . n colonies, and 

having ten vis tiladelphia, where he knew 

Morris ominent people, lie had 

oi lVnns\ Ivania politics, and 

knev the history and the weaknesses oi past adminis 

is 

>m this knov o ha\ e made up 

- - • , : ... ie < i -. i olon} . and he applied 

i put} l te had been In England 
during the time I aid no longei beat court, and 

had been oi much service in getting the provi 
laws approved b) the Privy Council He was willing, 
ssume the expense oi the fees neces* 
sary to obtain his confirmation by the crown, rhe 
Provincial Council In Pennsylvania, as well as 1 ogan 
and all the friends of the Penn family, recommended 
him. In short, ever} circumstance marked him out .is 
the man above all others suitable foi the post oi deputy- 
governor. 

One of his first acts on his arrival was to quiet 
the rerritories, where the people had become inclined 

: . a royal governor, instead of the Pennsylvania 
deputy, lie was seen after very fortunate in his speech 
to the Assembly of Pennsylvania. 1 K v had post 
poned his meeting with them, he said, until they were 
through with the labors of harvest; and he continued 

his remarks in the same conciliatory tone, promis- 
es 



.Mr-,. Pcnn becomes Pro] 

ing to - them 

• 
m on tl 

in a i' 
;ome qii( 
no lo 

'I hey voted him 

beral to him in the mati 
p nt in Luxurious living at 
Hoi 

dep ty -governor before his i 
he proprietor In : 
mainten; 

ilar an< if it. had b 

done a ' irlier, would have be lief 

to Penn. So popular did K ... 

Quakei 

lish the thii all, — a court 

.• and <-< militia. 

I I': bad ' Of rulin; 

whi' ' all the 

d in 
1 t of Chano I A Qw, 

lawyer, John K d the court with hi-. 

Keith, it. 

<M. 'J 

and the Quarterly 

appoinl 
privilege ording to 1 1 

rnor lik^r Evans tvould 
have turned such s ion into a mighty conflict, 

69 



Pennsylvania; Colony and Commonwealth 

which would have both the people and the 

Vssembl) against him, and prevented all beneficial 

legist; in} j eai - Bui Keil 

to then n ind entered an ordei allowing them to 

ss h is cou '. w ithout uncovei 

Keith had, however, some decided faults oi char- 

riuui^h able and broad minded in his way, he 

was insanely ambit inns, and courted popularity b) 

even means, fair and foul, He had fallen into the 

icn often acquire ol giving profuse promises 

on ever) occasion He found it a cheap way oi tiding 

K>rary difficulties ; and though Loud complaints 

I his numerous failures to keep his word, 

he still seem< he time, to gain more than he Lost 

b) this method, and also seemed to flourish, foi the 

debt Franklin, who came 

hia as a boy oi seventeen, during Keith's 

administration, was one of his victims, and w.is sent 

fruitless voyage to England by the governor's 

falsehoods. 

Such men usually ruin themselves in the end, and 
Keith was no exception He had scarcely been in 
office a year before he began to ignore his Council; and 
his intention was evidently to abolish that department 
of the government and make himself more populai with 
the Assembly, who believed that t ho Council was not 
authorized by the Constitution ol i"oi 

rhe colony was now rapidly increasing in wealth; 

the quit-rents and sales of Ian ! soon enabled Mis. 

Penn to pay off the mortgage on the province, and .ill 

the rest of her husband's debts. l>ut although the 

ocean was now free from the enemy's cruisers, there 

70 



VI r,. Penn \>" o Pro 

not a suffi< 
which, under the infi ,.j, mild 

-.it':, and rapidly incr< 
terabundant With I tiori of K 

passed to create a honi mption* B 

confined undei . of grain and . : 

manufa* ture oi beer, and forbu i 
01 sugai ; distil 

products in theii busi and home pi 

J tendei for debts, 
J he great indust ) oi th( p . what K 

desci ibed as the manul .. [n 

r daily before the French cruisers be 
nt on the ocean, 
a high reputation for flour, bra ted supp 

oi all kinds, which had usually b ried to 

I hoped that if .vas 

. it would consume some oi tin 
farm supplies; and rigid inspection laws w< ;ed, 

whu tlyimpnn quality of the manufaci 

provisions, and again broughl them into 
But even thi ot a sufficient remedy for th< 

abundance; and the coldnisl 
difficulty in their commercial life, whi< 
oi ( urrency for the ordinary purposes oi ex< hai 
'I he province, like all the other i i In Ame 

compelled to buy all \i<-.r manufaci in 

England, and not allowed to i h tnanuf; 

of hei own It. is true that Penn ylvania violated I 
rule many times, but not enough to prevent her impo 
far exceeding her exports. Si. therefore in l 

position of having more produce than 

7' 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

to do with, and was nevertheless buying and bringing 
into the country more than she sold and sent out. 
Money, as a consequence, was very scarce, for it was 
all drawn off to pay the unequal balance of trade. The 
remedies for turning the superabundant produce into 
money failed, and, likewise, attempts to lower the rate 
of interest, stay executions for debt, and raise the value 
of the coin. Keith suggested a paper currency, which 
proved successful, was issued during all the rest of the 
colonial period, and formed one of the regulation 
subjects of dispute between the Assembly and the 
governor. 

The same remedy of a paper currency was tried in 
other colonies, but usually with very disastrous results, 
because it was overissued, lost the confidence of the 
people, and depreciated so as to cause great loss and 
suffering. The difficulty with a paper currency in a 
colony was that if very little of it was issued it failed 
to entirely supply the place of the money drawn off to 
England, and became in great demand, so that specula- 
tors, or "sharpers," as the colonists called them, would 
buy it up to hold and sell gradually at an enormous 
profit. This was a great injury to the people, and 
defeated the purpose for which the paper had been 
issued. On the other hand, if much of it were issued, 
its depreciation caused even greater injury. 

The point to be attained was therefore to issue just 
so much as would about supply the place of the money 
taken to England, and no more and no less. To do 
this in a popular assembly, subject to the clamor of 
those who were extremely conservative and wanted no 
paper currency at all, and of those who believed in an 

72 



Mrs. Penn becomes Proprietary 

unlimited issue of paper money, was a difficult task. 
That Pennsylvania, nevertheless, had a paper currency 
issued from time to time for a period of fifty years, that 
was always sound and of a steady value for all pur- 
poses of trade, is another proof of how well the province 
was ruled down to the time of the Revolution. When 
the classes that had ruled in colonial times were driven 
from power in the Revolution, and a mob of the igno- 
rant and inexperienced were in possession of the com- 
monwealth, the previous success with paper money 
deluded them, and they rushed to the conclusion that 
it could be safely issued in unlimited quantities, the 
more of it the better, and that, no matter how low its 
value sank, people could be compelled to accept it by 
penal laws. 

There had been people in the province, usually 
debtors, with the same opinions previous to the Revo- 
lution, but they were held in check by the conserva- 
tism and good sense of the Quaker Assembly and the 
proprietary officials, who never allowed the issues to 
go beyond a safe basis. In the first issue under Keith, 
,£50,000 in notes were issued in loans to individuals 
secured on silver plate or land. 

This plan of issuing a currency or creating money 
based on the property of citizens is most plausible in 
theory, but extremely dangerous in practice as soon as 
attempted on a large scale. It was in the minds of 
many people at that time, and was an important part 
of the system of the famous John Law, whose banking 
scheme had a few years before ruined so many people 
in France. Law believed that money stimulated 
trade, that credit could be used as money, and that 

73 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

the way to have plenty of money and plenty of stimu- 
lation was through a generous issue of paper currency 
based on mortgages of land. His theories had come to 
grief in France in 1720; and doubtless the Pennsylvania 
Quakers had his lesson in their minds in 1722, when 
they issued their first paper money. They certainly 
acted upon the very reverse of Law's principle; for, 
instead of regarding money as the cause of trade, they 
regarded trade as the cause of money, and they con- 
fined their issues of paper money very closely to the 
one purpose of offsetting the drain of their currency to 
England, and they were careful to keep the issues far 
within the value of the security. 

The minutes of the Assembly show how carefully the 
subject was debated. Petitions came in from the mer- 
chants and other classes in the community, displaying 
various views and suggesting various remedies. The 
petitioners who differed in opinion answered each other 
back and forth ; and the whole experience of the English 
nation in coinage matters as well as the experience of 
the other colonies was reviewed. There was, in fact, 
a most thorough investigation; and the people, as well 
as the Assembly, became familiar with all the phases of 
the question. Nothing saved them from ruin but their 
extreme care and moderation, and the limitations with 
which their undertaking was surrounded. 

The loans on plate were for only a year, and those 
on lands were for eight years. No one could borrow 
more than ^"ioo except after the loan office had been 
open four months; and the sum allowed to be issued 
had not been all taken when one person could bor- 
row ,£200. Every loan was to be repaid by yearly 

74 



Mrs. Perm becomes Proprietary 

instalments ; and as soon as an instalment was due 
more than two months, there could be a foreclosure 
and sale of the land. Money received on the loans 
was to be used to buy in the notes, and in this way the 
whole issue was to be gradually absorbed. But in the 
next year, as the plan proved successful, a provision 
was adopted for reissuing the notes, so that the benefit 
of providing the people with a currency should be 
continued. 

Persons who refused to receive the paper money at 
the value of gold and silver were to be punished by a 
fine of from thirty shillings to fifty pounds. But pun- 
ishments of this sort were unnecessary as long as the 
people believed that the paper could be redeemed in 
gold ; and if they lost that faith, all the fines and punish- 
ments in the world would not restore the paper's value 
in their eyes, or compel them to accept it at par. This 
was afterward fully tested in the Revolution, when 
the new rulers in control of Pennsylvania attempted to 
regulate values by legislation and force. 

So popular was Keith, so successful his measures, 
and so prosperous the province under his rule, that the 
Assembly gave him a vote of thanks and gratitude, a 
distinction awarded to no other colonial governor of 
Pennsylvania. His treatment of the Council, which 
was in effect to abolish it, was quietly endured under 
the spell of his success; and Mrs. Penn, though 
extremely doubtful of the wisdom of the paper money, 
did not ask for its repeal in the hope that it would be 
carefully managed, and no more issues of it permitted. 
The governor might have gone on for some time undis- 
turbed if he had not lost his head and thought himself 

75 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

more powerful than Logan and the proprietors. Logan 
had, about the time of the first issue of paper money in 
the year 1722, entered a statement in the Minutes of 
the Council which Keith thought had not been approved 
by the other members; and, seizing upon this as a pre- 
text, Keith took upon himself as governor to dismiss 
Logan from the Council as well as from his office of 
secretary of the province. Logan immediately sailed 
for England, and laid the whole matter before the pro- 
prietary family. 

This was the end of Keith. Logan returned, and 
had the satisfaction of handing to him Mrs. Penn's 
rebuke. He must reinstate Logan at once, restore the 
Council to its former importance, and hereafter be 
guided by its advice. He might still have remained 
governor if he had yielded. But he not only resisted 
and argued against Mrs. Penn's rebuke, but laid the 
whole matter before the Assembly, and asked them to 
take his side. They supported him most heartily, and 
Mrs. Penn at once recalled him. The Assembly, hear- 
ing that their favorite was doomed, deserted him, gave 
him only ^400, and, when he urged them for a vote of 
approval, prepared a half-hearted address, in which 
they said as little as possible. His successor, Patrick 
Gordon, arrived in the summer of 1726, closing nine 
years of as beneficial an administration as the colony 
had ever had, which, but for the folly of Keith himself, 
might just as well have lasted ten years longer. 

Keith remained in the province for awhile, and was 
elected to the Assembly, in which he tried to create a 
party to overthrow the proprietary power. But in the 
spring of 1728 he was obliged to escape secretly to 

76 



Mrs. Perm becomes Proprietary 

avoid his creditors. Soon after he published a pam- 
phlet in England on the state of the colonies, and is 
said to have been the first person to suggest to the 
crown the taxation of the Americans. He was finally 
imprisoned for debt, and died in the Old Bailey. 



77 



Pennsylvania: Colonv and Commonwealth 



CHAPTER V 
Gordon's wise administration 

Gordon was an old soldier who had served with dis- 
tinction under Queen Anno; and, after the experience 
with Black well j this appointment of a warrior to rule 
a Quaker colonv was not a very favorable sign of a 
quiet administration. Gordon, however, seems to have 
thought himself all the better qualified. He had been 
born in the same year as William Penn, [644, and was 
now a discreet old man o\ eighty-two, calmed by years 
and vicissitudes, with a face which, in the portraits we 
have oi him, shows great benevolence, not unlike the 
typical Quaker. In his first address to the Assembly, 
he assured them that the simplicity and frankness he 
had acquired in camps would prevent refined or art I nl 
politics, and they would never have any difficulty in 
understanding him. It was easy enough, he said, to 
do right, and that was what he intended to do. 

Those who expected to have trouble with him were 
certainly disappointed, and his administration oi ten 
years was a distinct success, lie profited by Keith's 
mistakes, made no attempts to dispense with the 
Council, and achieved the happy medium o\ balancing 
between the interests of the proprietors and the interests 
of the people. In reality, he made the two interests 
almost identical, and there was no reason why they 

7S 



Gordon's Wise Administration 

should be otherwise. The best method ol ruling the 
colony was now, aftei fifty years ol experience, becom- 
ing very well settled ; and we hear no more of the < rude 
mistakes and ridiculous scandals and quarrels which 

were SO common in the time ol the founder. 

Gordon began his administration by a very sensible 
sa^e to the Assembly on the subject of the paper 
money. The five years since the passage of the paper- 
currency acts had now elapsed, and they had been sub- 
mitted to the Privy Council. The Committee of the 
Council on Trade and Plantations had warned the 
province that such acts were of a very dangerous ten- 
dency; and while in this instance they woidd not re- 
commend the king to annul them, because so much 
of the paper money was already in the hands of the 
people, yet it must be distinctly understood that no 
more should he issued, and that the notes now out- 
Standing must be sunk as rapidly as possible. Gordon 
confessed' that on coming to the province he had been 
of the Privy Council's way of thinking, but had been 
convinced by what he saw and heard that the paper 
money had been a benefit, not only to the colony, but 
also to England. The importations from England had 
greatly increased. More ships were built; and the 
currency, instead of depreciating, as it had in other 
colonies, had actually risen in value. Moreover, the 
colonists had helper! the situation by establishing iron 
furnaces and cultivating hemp, which enabled them to 
check the drain of their gold and silver to England; 
and, as these industries increased, the paper money 
would become more valuable and secure, and in time 
could be dispensed with altogether. Under such cir- 

79 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

cumstances he thought the Privy Council would be 
indulgent, and the people need not dread their 
interference. 

The people were indeed just at that time clamorous 
for more of the money. It had, they thought, been a 
great convenience in trade. But many of the notes 
had been redeemed, and there was evidently not enough 
of the paper to offset the drain of gold to England, for 
trade had again begun to languish, merchants had 
large quantities of unsold goods on hand, navigation 
was discouraged, and the shipyards were idle. The 
Assembly prepared an address to the Privy Council, 
repeating the old arguments in favor of the money, and 
reminding the Council that they must not be too much 
influenced by the disastrous results of paper money in 
the other colonies, where it had been secured only on 
the credit of the government, for in Pennsylvania it 
had the additional security of the property of individual 
citizens pledged for its redemption. 

The Assembly also prepared a bill to reissue the 
amounts already authorized, and add thereto an issue 
of £50,000, all to be repayable by instalments in six- 
teen years. Gordon, however, persuaded them to reduce 
the £50,000 to £30,000, so that the whole sum current 
should be £75,000, and this issue continued until the 
year 1739. 

It was in this paper-money controversy that Franklin 
made his first appearance in political life with his 
pamphlet on "The Nature and Necessity of a Paper 
Currency." He was only twenty-three years old, had 
been in the province six years, and, though still a fore- 
man in Keimer's printing-shop, was about to estab- 

80 



Gordon's Wise Administration 

lish himself with some partners as a rival to his old 
employer. His pamphlet has been absurdly praised, 
as a remarkable production, in advance of his time, 
and an enlightenment to the province. But those who 
have bestowed this praise were not familiar with the 
votes and debates of the Assembly, or, indeed, with 
any of the essential circumstances of the controversy. 
The pamphlet was in reality a very crude performance, 
far inferior to any of the papers on the subject to be 
found in the Assembly's minutes, and it maintained 
what were then well known to be very mischievous 
fallacies. 

Franklin was at that time only half educated, and, 
like many other men of that sort, before and since, he 
believed in what he called plenty of money. He took 
up many pages in showing what a great stimulant to 
trade and prosperity was this plenty of money. He 
was completely carried away by the land-bank scheme, 
speaks of the paper currency as "coined land," and 
argued that any one who had land should be able to 
coin it into the new money. He believed that the 
money should be issued up to the full value of the land 
pledged for its security, and there was no danger in 
this, he thought, because the land in Pennsylvania was 
steadily rising in value, and the paper money that was 
issued on it by stimulating trade would make the land 
rise all the more. He also very ingenuously argued 
that no man would be so foolish as to borrow more 
of the paper money than his land was worth, and 
thereby impair the value of the very money he was 
borrowing. 

Though he did not go so far as some other deluded 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

ones have gone, and advocate an unlimited issue of 
paper money, he believed that it should be issued in 
very large amounts, and kept even with the advancing 
value of land ; and he seems to have thought that this 
was very conservative, and far within the limits of 
safety. He lived, however, to have a different opinion ; 
and in the part of his autobiography written in 1771, 
he says, "I now think there are limits beyond which 
the quantity may be hurtful." 

But he still clung to the opinion that his boyish 
pamphlet had carried great weight and conviction, and 
says that no one answered it. Fortunately, it was not 
necessary at that time to answer such rubbish and 
nonsense. The men who were controlling public affairs 
had thought and read of financial questions before 
the young pamphleteer was born, had already carried 
through with safety one issue of paper money, and 
had no intention of accomplishing any more with it 
than to offset the drain of gold and silver to England, 
while, at the same time, they kept the amount of it far 
within the value of the land on which it was secured. 
This had been their intention in 1722, before they had 
heard of the young printer or his enlightenment. It 
was again their intention in 1729, and they do not 
appear to have been moved from their purpose by any- 
thing he said. Fifty years afterward, in the Revolu- 
tion, when men of that sort had been removed from the 
government of Pennsylvania, and a party was in power 
that accepted doctrines similar to those of Franklin's 
boyhood, and attempted to put them in practice, 
the disaster and suffering among the people were 
terrible. 

82 



Gordon's Wise Administration 

Franklin's pamphlet was a bright and rather interest- 
ing production for a young man of twenty-three with 
few advantages. Among reckless people of the lower 
class, who hoped for some millennium from paper 
money which would make all the poor rich and all the 
rich poor, it was of course considered wonderful. The 
well informed either disregarded it entirely or excused 
its faults for the sake of a certain power of statement it 
displayed, which gave promise of better things. 

The ten years of Gordon's administration passed away 
amidst the greatest peace and prosperity; and he was 
soon able to say in one of his messages that the oftener 
he met the Assembly, the more their confidence in each 
other was increased. A permanent agent was appointed 
to represent the Assembly in England, explain the 
operation of the colony's laws, and prevent their hasty 
or inconsiderate repeal by the crown. The appoint- 
ment of this agent seems to have been a cause of much 
satisfaction to every one, the proprietors as well as 
the people, and the person selected for the office was 
Ferdinando John Paris. 

Mrs. Penn, who, ever since the death of the founder, 
had showed herself such a prudent proprietary, died in 
1733, after suffering for some time, like her husband, 
from a stroke of paralysis, Springett Penn had died 
in 1 73 1, and Dennis in 1722, so that the heirs of the 
founder were now John, Thomas, and Richard. John, 
always known as "the American," because he had been 
born in Philadelphia during the founder's second visit, 
came out to the colony during Gordon's administration, 
but was obliged to return in a few months to resist Lord 
Baltimore in matters relating to the boundary dispute 

83 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

with Maryland. Thomas also came out and remained 
nine years, — from 1732 to 1741. During that time 
he sat as a member of the Council, and studied atten- 
tively the affairs of the colony, but unfortunately not 
to much purpose. He acquired a strong appreciation, 
in a narrow way, of his own interest, and learned to be 
suspicious and ill-natured toward the people. He was 
the business man of the family, and the others played 
such an unimportant part that they were seldom heard 
of or mentioned. For the next thirty-five or forty 
years people often spoke of the proprietor of Pennsyl- 
vania as if there were none besides Thomas. 

He appears to have been no more than a very careful 
man of affairs, and a gentleman of some accomplish- 
ment ; and we look in vain for any of the exuberance 
of spirit, daring energy, or broad, generous principles 
of bis father, the great founder of our State. But 
although we cannot forgive him for defrauding the 
Indians in the Walking Purchase, and although he 
often ruled the colony narrowly and meanly, we must 
remember that he had a difficult task and great respon- 
sibility. He had to control a rapidly increasing popu- 
lation of nearly half a million English, Scotch-Irish, 
and Germans filled with the most advanced ideas of 
liberty and jealous of interference. He had not only 
to rule these people, but to collect from the lands they 
occupied the purchase-money, rent, and interest of a 
great estate, rapidly rolling up into millions of pounds 
of value, for which he was responsible not only for 
himself, but for his relations. He had to arrange for 
treaties with the Indians, and the purchase of their 
title to the land, to fight off the boundary disputes of 



Gordon's Wise Administration 

Connecticut, Maryland, and Virginia, which threatened 
to reduce his domain to a mere narrow strip of land 
containing neither Philadelphia nor Pittsburg. He 
was in the extraordinary position of having the rights 
and powers of a feudal lord hundreds of years after all 
the reasons for the feudal system had ceased to exist, 
and of having to exercise those rights in a new and 
wild country, among a people whose convictions, both 
civil and religious, were utterly opposed to them. 
That he succeeded at all was remarkable, and that he 
succeeded so long must be put down as something to 
his credit. 

The large fortune which rapidly began to accrue to 
himself and his brothers was spent upon their country- 
seats in England. John Penn died in 1746, and does 
not appear to have had much of an establishment. 
But Thomas purchased, in 1760, Stoke Park, which 
had been the property, successively, of Sir Christopher 
Hatton of Queen Elizabeth's time, of Lord Coke, and 
of the Cobham family. His son John, grandson of the 
founder, greatly enlarged and beautified the place; and 
far down into the present century it was one of the 
show country-seats of England, with its magnificent 
mansion-house, library, game, and herds of deer. This 
same John also built another country-seat, called 
Pennsylvania Castle, as picturesque and interesting as 
Stoke Park, and situated on the Island of Portland, of 
which he was governor. 

While Thomas Penn was still in the province, a 
member of the Provincial Council, and engaged in 
studying the resources of his great estate, Governor 
Gordon died in August, 1736, in his ninety-second 

85 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

year. Two years elapsed before another deputy was 
appointed, and in that time Logan, as President of the 
Council, acted as governor. He had, however, noth- 
ing of great importance to trouble him except a quarrel 
and some bloodshed between the Marylanders and 
Pennsylvanians living near the disputed boundary. 



86 



Governor Thomas and the Spanish War 



CHAPTER VI 

GOVERNOR THOMAS AND THE SPANISH WAR 

Lord Baltimore was at this time pushing his claims 
against Pennsylvania with considerable vigor ; and be- 
sides the armed invasions he succeeded in delaying for a 
year the confirmation of a new deputy. George Thomas, 
a rich planter of Antigua, had been appointed in 1737; 
but Baltimore appealed to the crown against his con- 
firmation as Governor of Delaware, which he declared 
was a part of Maryland. The Penns, however, as in all 
their other disputes with Baltimore, were again success- 
ful. Thomas was confirmed by the crown as Governor 
of both Pennsylvania and Delaware, and arrived in the 
province in the summer of 1738. 

The first important event of his administration was 
the enlargement of the paper currency, which had been 
fixed at ,£75,000 ten years before, and was now largely 
paid off. A bill was passed providing for a reissue so 
as to make the whole amount outstanding £80,000; 
and this amount, continued by another Act in 1745, re- 
mained until 1773, when it was increased to £150,000. 

The Quaker scruples about war had now been undis- 
turbed for twenty-five years. During that time their 
province had grown prodigiously in wealth and pros- 
perity under the benign rule of Keith and of Gordon; 
their commerce had been unvexed by the privateers of 

87 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

the French, and their public treasury undiminished by 
taxes to support the wars of England. But now Eng- 
land had been cutting too much logwood at Campeachy 
and gathering too much salt at theTortugas; and Spain 
had been claiming the right to search English ships, 
and she searched them not in the gentlest manner. 
War was declared in October, 1739, and privateers were 
soon scouring the seas. 

Thomas began the routine request for aid from the 
Assembly ; and the Assembly, as the Assembly had 
often done before, reminded him in pious terms of their 
consciences. They said frankly : " The Quakers do not 
(as the world is now circumstanced) condemn the use 
of arms in others, yet are principled against it them- 
selves." 2 Those who thought it right to fight had, they 
said, " an equal right to liberty of conscience with 
others; " and in accordance with this doctrine they did 
more than any previous Assembly had done, and gave 
the governor a loop-hole for escape. He could, they 
said, if he chose, as representing the proprietor, who 
was captain-general, organize a voluntary militia with- 
out the aid of any laws and without consulting the 
Assembly. 

If Thomas had been at all familiar with the history of 
Pennsylvania, or if he had taken the trouble to read 
over the minutes of the Assembly in Evans' or 
Gookin's time, he would have thankfully accepted such 
an opportunity as the Assembly gave him, and not 
undertaken to force them. But, ignorant of their skill 
at reply and sarcasm, and fully convinced that their 

1 Voles of the Assembly, iii. 362. 
88 



Governor Thomas and the Spanish War 

scruples were foolish, he thought he could turn them 
from their purpose and change opinions that were the 
growth of a hundred years. He was soon surprised 
beyond measure at the strength of their position, their 
nimbleness in turning phrases, the adroitness with which 
they seized on every unguarded point in his messages, 
repeating his words with mock respect and then turning 
them to ridicule, meanwhile calling to their aid all the 
resources of religion and sentiment. He found himself 
beaten and humiliated in the eyes of the people, who 
rapidly learned of the controversy at the coffee-house ; 
and he soon added to his mortification when he com- 
plained that his salary was unpaid, and was reminded 
by the Assembly that they were not in the habit of 
paying much salary to a governor who opposed them. 

The Duke of Newcastle, however, wisely instructed 
the governor, if he found difficulty in raising supplies 
from the Assembly, to allow one of the officers of the 
regular army to recruit volunteers. This plan proved 
so successful that seven hundred men were raised, 
although the quota required from the province was 
only four hundred. But many of the recruits were 
redemptioners glad of the opportunity to enlist and 
escape for a time their servitude ; and this made a 
new difficulty with the Assembly. They refused at 
their next session to vote a single shilling until 
the servants were returned to their masters and some 
assurance given that no more should be enlisted. If 
the servants were returned, they offered to vote ,£"3,000. 
But Thomas rejected this grant and raised funds by his 
own efforts on the credit of the British government. 
The Assembly used their money in indemnifying the 

89 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

masters who had lost servants, and paid out in this 
way £2,500. 

The people approved the conduct of the Assembly, 
and at the next election returned the same members. 
The Quaker government and its war policy was at this 
time and for long afterward very popular with the 
majority. Even the combatant portion of the people 
largely supported it. 

But the people and the Assembly were completely out 
with Governor Thomas. He laid an embargo without 
consulting them ; and when he afterward asked them to 
lay an embargo on wheat, they had the opportunity not 
only to refuse his request, but to comment severely on 
his conduct. When the Assembly of 1741 was elected, 
he asked them for nothing. But they voted of their 
own accord a grant of £3,000 to the crown. They 
wished, they said, to bear part of the public burdens 
from which their fellow-subjects in England were suf- 
fering. But to Thomas they would not pay a penny of 
salary, or pass a single law he wanted. 

He went on fighting them, however, sent letters to 
England denouncing the Quakers, and complaining of 
the manufacturing industries they were establishing. 
He collected a small party in his favor, which became 
known as the " gentlemen's party," while that led by 
the Quakers was called the " country party." The 
leaders of the gentlemen's party were William Allen, 
afterward chief justice and a leader of the proprietary 
party, and Tench Francis, the attorney-general. 

This was a rather new division of parties in the 
province. The anti-proprietary party of the times of 
Evans and Gookin had long since ceased to exist; and 

90 



Governor Thomas and the Spanish War 

David Lloyd for many years before his death had had 
no occasion to show his power of popular leadership. 
Under Keith's brilliant rule and the administration of 
wise old Governor Gordon, there were no parties at all, 
and there need have been none now but for the per- 
versity of Thomas. The party that was arrayed against 
him was not in any sense an anti-proprietary party, for 
the proprietors were now very popular; but it was an 
anti-governor party. 

The two factions had a trial of their strength at the 
election in the autumn of 1742. Great preparations 
were made on both sides, and the excitement was 
intense. The Quakers had secured the support of 
almost the entire German population, and were there- 
fore strongest in the country districts; while the gov- 
ernor's party relied on Philadelphia for any success 
they were to attain. 

The reason why the Quakers were always able to 
secure the votes of the province, and maintain their 
supremacy over a people who differed from them in 
religion and outnumbered them, was partly by the 
effectiveness of their political organization, and partly 
through the friendship of the Germans. Every Quaker 
meeting was a source of political influence and a means 
of persuading and compelling votes, and by many years 
of practice and experience the people had become very 
skilful. As for the Germans, they always expressed 
great gratitude to the Quakers, who, they said, had 
received and protected them with liberal laws, and 
treated them with a kindness they had not experienced 
in any other English colony. Thomas, however, always 
said that the Quakers won over the Germans by scaring 

91 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

them about the militia law, which was represented as 
likely to reduce them to the slavery they had endured 
in their own country, and would drag them from their 
farms to work on fortifications. 

On the morning of election day, the governor's party 
secured the services of seventy sailors from the shipping 
in the river. Many of the citizens objected to their 
presence in the streets as likely to lead to riot, and 
appealed to the magistrates. But the magistrates, who 
had been appointed by the governor, replied that they 
were no more a menace to peace than the alien Ger- 
mans. An attempt was made to elect William Allen, a 
governor's man, inspector of the election; and the 
moment this failed and a Quaker, Isaac Norris, was 
elected, the sailors rushed in and with clubs and fists 
cleared the ground of the country party. As soon as 
the polls were opened, they rushed in again to clear off 
the country party ; but this time they were repulsed, 
driven back to their ships, and about fifty of them 
captured and locked up in the jail. The country party 
was also successful in the election, and all the old 
members of the Assembly were returned. 

Thomas now began to be convinced that he was 
beaten. He came down from his high horse, assented 
to the bills the Assembly wanted, and was soon after 
rewarded by a grant of all his back pay. The Assembly 
were justly proud of him, for in his reformed state he 
was altogether the work of their hands. Their other 
evil governors they had gotten rid of, but this one they 
had kept by them until they had kicked him into shape. 
He soon had an opportunity to show his change of 
heart; for war was now again on between France and 

92 



Governor Thomas and the Spanish War 

England. He accepted the hint given him five years 
before, and proceeded to enlist men from the comba- 
tant portion of the people, and asked for no assistance 
from the Assembly. 

In this he was ably assisted by Franklin, who wrote, 
in defence of the undertaking, one of his characteristic 
pamphlets. In fact, Franklin was the most active pro- 
moter of the recruiting. A few days after the appear- 
ance of his pamphlet he called a meeting of citizens, and, 
after urging them to form an association for defence, he 
distributed papers among them, and in a few minutes 
had twelve hundred signatures. They were called 
Associators, — a name used for many years after to de- 
scribe the Pennsylvania militia. In a few days he had 
enrolled ten thousand volunteers, armed and equipped 
at their own expense, which shows how large the 
combatant population had become, and how much in 
earnest they were for war. 

This was Franklin's first real and serviceable appear- 
ance in public life. Sixteen years before he had, as a 
youthful printer of twenty-three, written a pamphlet in 
favor of paper money, which, though full of crude and 
reckless suggestions, had attracted much attention. It 
was, however, so far as it had any influence at all, an 
injury to public opinion. But Franklin was now a very 
different man. In the eighteen years that had elapsed 
he had established himself comfortably in business, and 
by reading and study had made himself one of the 
most learned and accomplished men in the colonies. 
He had already for some time been devoting himself to 
science, and was on the eve of his great discovery that 
thunder and lightning were manifestations of elec- 

93 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

tricity. He was thirty-nine years old, an experienced, 
prudent man, gathering to himself great influence ; and 
his success in organizing the Associators gave him such 
reputation that the people retained him in the public 
service for the rest of his life. 

He was ably assisted by Logan and other Quakers, 
who believed in defensive war, and they lent their aid 
in erecting a battery below the city. The Scotch- Irish 
Presbyterians, who had been gradually becoming more 
numerous in the colony during the last twenty years, 
now appeared for the first time in politics, and their 
preachers published sermons in the cause of defence. 
The enthusiasm even spread among the Quakers, 
especially the younger ones; and many of the older 
ones were in secret sympathy with the proceedings, 
which they could not openly advocate without losing 
caste among the weaker brethren. Franklin tells us 
how the Quaker members of a fire company allowed 
money to be appropriated for the defensive measures, 
by purposely absenting themselves from the meeting at 
which the money was voted; and he estimated that 
nineteen out of every twenty Quakers were in favor 
of war. This estimate seems rather large; but it was 
fully justified by the events of after years. There is 
no doubt that the scruple against war was a whimsical 
fancy of which many of the leaders and more intelli- 
gent members would have gladly been rid, and they 
were ready to welcome any quibble and vote money 
"for the king's use" or for " other grain," or anything 
else that would serve. 

Penn himself had always professed to be opposed to 
war, but he had appointed a professional soldier to be 

94 



Governor Thomas and the Spanish War 

governor of his colony, was given by his charter the 
powers of a captain-general with the right to levy war, 
and on one occasion is said to have addressed a me- 
morial to the king asking for men-of-war to protect 
Pennsylvania from the French. In fact, it was not un- 
common for Quaker merchants to have convoys to 
protect their ships. 

The Pennsylvania Quakers of the year 1745, especially 
those in the city, had become very much like the 
founder of their province, and were largely men of the 
world. They had grown rich and prosperous, and they 
had grown accustomed to political power. They were 
rapidly becoming in Pennsylvania a sect of the upper 
class. They were beginning to find many parts of their 
discipline a trifle inconvenient, and hundreds of them 
were for that reason becoming Episcopalians. 

Their Assembly was soon asked to contribute to the 
expedition Massachusetts had planned against Louis- 
burg ; and as soon as the home government approved 
the expedition, the Pennsylvania Assembly voted £4,000, 
" to be expended," they said, " in the purchase of bread, 
beef, pork, flour, wheat, or other grain." This was the 
famous law of which Franklin tells us in his Auto- 
biography that the words " other grain " were pur- 
posely inserted by the Assembly so that the Governor 
could purchase gunpowder. Some of his friends urged 
him to insist on a better bill. But he said he had 
learned by experience, and knew what was meant, and 
accordingly bought the powder, and no one objected. 

After carrying on the government for four years in 
entire harmony with the Assembly, Thomas resigned 
in the summer of 1746. Of the other governors, some 

95 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

had taken sides with the proprietors and some with the 
people; and old Gordon had taken sides with neither, 
while preserving with the utmost fidelity the interests of 
both. But Thomas had, like Fletcher, differed from 
all the others by taking sides with the king against 
both proprietors and people, — a foolish attempt of 
which the Assembly abundantly cured him, so that they 
parted from him with regret. 

After his departure Anthony Palmer, President of the 
Council, acted as governor; and he soon had to call the 
attention of the Assembly to the French and Spanish 
privateers which boldly entered the bay and plundered 
the inhabitants along the shores. One of the Spanish 
privateers, commanded by Don Vincent Lopez, came 
up the river under the English flag, capturing all the 
small craft she met and towing them after her. She 
evidently intended to take a Jamaica-man that was lying 
in front of New Castle. 

When she anchored some miles below New Castle at 
ten o'clock in the evening, George Proctor, an English 
sailor serving against his will on board of her, slipped 
into one of the captured shallops and cut it adrift. 
The ebb-tide carried him rapidly away into the darkness, 
and when at a safe distance he made sail and steered for 
Salem. But when within a few miles of his destination 
the wind fell calm, and he was obliged to jump overboard 
and swim ashore. He reached Salem at three in the 
morning, gave the people the alarm, and then crossed 
over to the Pennsylvania side and reached New Castle 
soon after daylight. 

The Spaniard was approaching, and he told the people 
what she was. As she slowly neared the town with the 

96 



Governor Thomas and the Spanish War 

ebb-tide running strong against her, the wind suddenly 
fell and she was obliged to anchor. The townsmen 
manned their little battery and blazed away at her 
for an hour, to which she deigned no reply but a single 
shot, hoisting the Spanish colors, and three huzzas. 
Soon afterward she dropped down the river and went 

to sea. 1 

The Assembly seemed to care very little about this 
privateering in the bay, and could not be persuaded to 
take measures against it. They were quite confident 
that the province and its chief city were safe, for the 
long reaches of the river were full of shoals, and the 
privateers feared going aground, or being becalmed or 
wind-bound in some narrow passage where they would 
be at the mercy of any devices the combatant portion of 
the people might invent. 

i Col. Rec. v. 248, 253. 

7 97 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 



CHAPTER VII 

THE QUAKERS AND THE INDIANS 

ALTHOUGH the Assembly cared but little for the war- 
fare of privateers in Delaware Bay, they were by no means 
easy in their minds about another war which, though as 
yet far off, was clearly foreseen. The Indians, who for 
the seventy years since the founding of the colony had 
never given the colonists an anxious thought, were be- 
coming hostile. The French were urging them on and 
coming nearer and nearer to the western frontier of the 
province. 

It had been a fundamental principle with Penn and 
his followers to be particularly fair and just with the 
Indians. As Puritans and reformers, the Quakers had 
always professed to be very much shocked at the way 
in which Christians deprived heathen nations of their 
lands, and robbed, defrauded, and murdered them. The 
legal theory of Indian land-ownership at that time was 
the familiar one that the Indians owned only the land 
they actually lived on and cultivated. Their right was 
simply a right of occupancy, and was lost as to any par- 
ticular piece as soon as they ceased to live on it; and 
an Indian right of occupancy was not inconsistent with 
the ownership of the fee simple by a white man. An 
Indian land-title was about the same as the land-title of 
a wolf or bear. Expressed in other language, the In- 

98 



The Quakers and the Indians 

dians may be said to have had an easement on the 
land for the purposes of hunting, fishing, and building 
their wigwams ; and it was for the Indian and white 
man to agree when this easement should be discharged, 
but meanwhile the white man might continue to own 
the land. 

The general rule of law, as laid down at that time by 
every writer and judge, was that no heathen people 
could acquire a title to land except that of occupancy, 
which would be valid against a Christian who wanted it ; 
and the first Christian who took it could keep it. This 
rule of law, sometimes called the " heavenly title," has 
been recognized by modern courts as the original basis 
of the ownership of a large part of the territory of the 
United States ; and in excuse for its seeming injustice 
a modern judge always reminds us that it has been 
long and universally acted upon, and is a practical 
necessity of civilization. 

It originated with the Pope, and was part of the policy 
for the increase of the temporal power. When Colum- 
bus discovered America, it will be remembered that the 
Pope claimed it as his of right, and kindly gave it to 
Spain ; and the comment has often been made that the 
Romans were arrogant despots and conquerors ; they 
took what they wanted and because they wanted it, but 
they never claimed that there was enough magic in 
their religion to change the universal rights of prop- 
erty. It remained for the Supreme Pontiff to announce 
that Christianity was a good excuse for theft. 

The Spaniards always carried out this doctrine to the 
letter, and believed that as Christians they had a divine 
right to rob and murder every man, woman, and child 

99 



Pennsylvania : Colony and Commonwealth 

in Mexico and Peru. But the English and Americans 
have always shrunk from the original theory, and have 
compromised by trying to pay to the savages at least a 
nominal price for their lands, and avoiding as far as pos- 
sible any cruelty or ill-treatment of them. 

There is no doubt that public opinion among certain 
classes in England in the seventeenth century discoun- 
tenanced all harsh treatment of the Indians ; and there 
is also no doubt that the actual treatment of the Indians 
in New England, Virginia, and the Carolinas was far in 
advance of what was known to be the practice in the 
Spanish colonies. But this actual treatment in the 
English colonies was far below the standard adopted 
by advanced people like the Quakers. The settlers of 
New England paid the Indians for some of their land, 
and great praise has been lavished on them for such 
generous conduct. But a large part of New England 
was obtained from the Indians by conquest. 1 When 
Roger Williams, who had in his mind some of the ideas 
that afterward went to form the Quakers, was banished 
from Massachusetts, one of the causes of his dispute 
with the authorities of the colony' was that he had up- 
braided them for their treatment of the Indians and 
their failure to pay for the land, which he said could 
not be granted to them by the king until it had been 
bought from the Indians. 

Even when they bought the land, we find them gain- 
ing enormous tracts of country for a few bundles of 
hatchets, beads, and clothes. The price was not a 
compensation, and was not intended to be a compensa- 

1 Palfrey's History of New England, ill. 137, 138. 
100 



The Quakers and the Indians 

tion. It was simply a method of quieting the Indians 
and obtaining a claim of right which could be asserted 
against them. Any one who has studied the law-suits 
over Indian titles knows the absurdity of these pur- 
chases. Deeds were often taken from drunken Indians, 
or from members of a tribe who had no authority to 
make a grant. Massacres and wars were frequent in 
New England as well as in Virginia and other Southern 
colonies. These difficulties, it has generally been 
believed, checked the advance of many of the colonies ; 
while the entire absence of such difficulties in Penn- 
sylvania for the first seventy years of her history has 
usually been put down as one of the causes of her 
wonderful growth and prosperity. 

The seizure of the heathen's land, once done in the 
name of religion and now in the name of civilization, 
the Quakers tried to mitigate without entirely abrogat- 
ing it. Perm paid the Indians for every rod of land he 
took from them ; and the price seems to have been much 
more than was usually paid in other colonies. At any 
rate, the Indians were always satisfied. Penn's sons 
adopted their father's policy; and although in one or 
two instances, as we shall see, the Indians considered 
themselves overreached, yet it may be said that the 
whole commonwealth was fairly bought from them, 
because for a large part of it they were paid twice over, 
and this made up for any parts on which the price 
seemed insufficient. 

In the great purchase of 1754, about seven million 
acres were obtained for £750, which was at the rate 
of about one penny for every thirty-nine acres. The 
United States purchased from France the great Louis- 



Pennsylvania: Colotiv and Commonwealth 

Lma ti-'.. ning ovei seven hundred million icr* 

cents an acre, and Florida was bought 

from Spain for about thirteen cents an acre, In both 

the price w >od deal more than 

the Indian's penny foi ever} thirt) nine acres; and yet 

under all the circumstances the Indian's price can 

hardly be called unfair, It' I ouisiana and Florida had 

. i bought in >4, when the Pennsylvania Indians 

sold their land, they would have been obtained much 

than in the succeeding century, But any 

of thirt> nine acres foi a penny was 

ward large!} cured; foi the Indians becoming 

satisfied with the bargain, the land was all bought 

tin from them in smaller tra< 

It is necessary to remember also that the Indian land 
was m a certain sense not very valuable* A. people 
who use land only for hunting cannot expect to be paid 

as much tor it vis a people who use it tot ei\ ill ation. 
Even it' the Indians had been paid ten times as inueli, it 

would have done them no good, They could use monej 

for no other purpose than gambling and dunk, a\\<\ 

although this is aside from the question of fairness in 

paying them tor what belonged to them, it nevertheless 

rves some consideration, Hie proprietors and the 

Pennsylvania Assembly were continually giving them 

presents in addition to the amounts paid foi theil land, 
so that so far as money could compensate them tor the 
loss of their hunting-grounds, they may be said to have 
been in most instances very fairly treated. 

Hut whatever may have been the complaints ol the 
Indians against the sons o\ Penn, they never \\^\ a t :om 
plaint to make against the father; and this was the 






The (Quakers and the Indians 

at merit in his treatment of them, that he satisfied 
them and they liked him. 

In his famous treaty with them in 1682 or 1683, un- 
der the great elm at Philadelphia, he gave them no 
unusual privileges or favors. The- document itself, if 
it e-ver existed, is lost. No one knows its contents; and 
we have only vague traditions of what was done on 
that picturesque occasion, when the tribes are said to 
have come swarming through the woods and laid down 
their bows and arrows before- the peaceful (Quaker, 
whom the historians attempt to exalt by saying he was 
clad in the simple dress of his sect, and in almost the 

1. sentence say that he was distinguished above all 
others by a gorj of sky-blue round his waist. 

So far a Mown, Penn probably indulged in the 

usual Indian harangue about trees and streams, — a 
of language that is sometimes called eloquence, but 
more- properly " baby talk," and can be imitated to 
perfection by any Indian agent. But the speech 
usually assigned to Penn on that occasion is now 
known to have been delivered by him nearly twenty 
years afterward, when the Indians complained of the- 
deed of the Susquehanna Valley obtained from Colonel 
Dongan, Governor of New York. 

The treaty under the elm has been so exalted and 
embellished by historians and painters that it may be 
well to reduce it to its true proportions, and see what 
light it throws upon the colony's relations with the 
Indians. First of all, it may be said that the usual 
school-book story of the grandeur and solemnity of the 
occasion, and the picture of the scene by Benjamin 
West, are pretty much pure fiction with hardly even a 

103 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

respectable tradition to rest upon, [ndeed, all the 

traditions that create the picturesqueness of the scene 

ently after-thoughts, dn<\ have increased with 

time. That Penn wore a sky blue sash is a clever 
supposition; but beyond the tradition ot it in a certain 
family in England that believed it had the very sash 
itself, it has no firmer basis than Penn's well-known 
fancy for handsome dross and the likelihood that ho 
would want to make an impression on the savage 
mind. 

rhe great bubble of popular tradition about the 
treaty was fust pricked by the publication of certain 
documents in the early part of the present century ; m\<.\ 
in 1834 Mr. Peter S, Duponceau and Mr. J. Francis 
Fisher prepared a report on the subject for the His- 
torical Society of Pennsylvania, in which they gave all 

that was certainly known, a\\A drew the few inferences 
that seemed warranted. Their work was reviewed, seme 
new material added, a\u\ somewhat different conclusions 
drawn, by Mr. Frederick IX Stone in 1882, Read in 
the light of the cold investigations ol those learned men, 
the great treaty dwindles to very small proportions, and 
many people have been disposed to treat it as alto- 
gether a myth. 

It was always supposed that the treaty was held in 
l oS J. But Mr. Stone has shown quite conclusively 
that, if held at all, it must have been held in [683. 
There is no record o\ any treaty or purchase oi kind 
from the Indians in [682, except a purchase made by 
Markham. Penn*s agent, July 15. [682, before Venn 
arrived. In [683 there were two purchases, -one on 
June 23, and the other on June 25 a\\(\ July 1.} It was 



The (Quakers and the Indians 

at one of these, probably the one on June 23, that the 
treaty was made that lias attracted so much attention. 
The deeds show a greater number of chiefs to have- 
been present on June 23 than at the later dates. This 
is slight evidence, but it is all we have. The only 
direct, written evidence that can be found to show that 
the great treaty was ever held at all, is a passage in the 
letter written by Penn to the Free Society of Traders, 
August J 6 of that year: — 

"When the Purchase was agreed, great Promises passed 
between us, of Kindness and good Neighbourhood, and that 
the Indians and English must live in Love as long as the 
Sun give bight: Which done, another made a speech to the 
Indians, in the name of all the Sachamakan, or Kings, first 
to tell them what was done; next, to charge and command 
them To love the Christians, and particularly live in peace 
with me, and the People under my Government. That many 
Governors had been in the River, but that no Governor had 
come himself to live and stay here before; and having now 
such an one that had treated them well, they should never do 
him or his any wrong. At every sentence of which they 
shouted, and said, Amen, in their way." 

The tradition of the great treaty among the Indians 
is, however, quite distinct. We have the records of 
their speeches at treaties many years afterward, in 
which they refer to the promises made of old by 
Penn ; and their description of these promises closely 
resembles what Penn describes in his letter to the 
Society of Traders. The Indians said that they often 
assembled in the woods and spread out a blanket on 
which they laid all the words of Penn, that they might 

*°5 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

go over them and refresh their memories. By this they 
meant that they laid on the blanket the belts of wam- 
pum, eaeh one oi which represented a clause of the 
treat}'. Each belt had been originally given to an 
Indian, with the clause of the treaty he was to remem- 
ber ; and it was in this way that they preserved the 
memory of past events. 

In the records of the treaties in which the Indians 
give their recollections, the governors of the province 
also speak of the old understanding with Penn ; and at 
a treaty held in 1728, Governor Gordon gave a brief 
summary of that understanding, which agrees with what 
Penn says in his letter and also with a document called 
" Conditions or Concessions," which Penn had prepared 
at the founding of the colony, and which contained the 
general principles on which the Indians were to be 
treated. The governor also intimated that the treaty 
was in writing, and at a previous treaty in 1722 Gov- 
ernor Keith appears to have exhibited the parchment 
itself. In 1685 Penn wrote as if the Indians had signed 
some such agreement : — 

" If any of them break our Laws they submit to be punished 
by them; and this they have tyed themselves by an obligation 
under their hands." 

It seems as if there must have once been a document 
containing an agreement of conduct and friendship in 
addition to the purchase of land ; and in the secretary's 
office at Harrisburg there was once found an envelope 
which, from the indorsement on it, might be supposed 
to have contained this treaty. If it ever really existed, 
a duplicate of it must have been given to the Indians, 

106 



The Quakers and the Indians 

and some have gone so far as to hope that it might still 
be found among some of the western tribes. 

What it contained we can only guess from what Penn 
and his governors have said of it. Fair treatment seems 
to have been promised on both sides. The Indians 
were not to be overreached or imposed upon in trade ; 
their persons were not to be insulted or abused ; and 
complaints on either side were to be tried by a mixed 
jury of Indians and white men. 

There was nothing at all wonderful in this. Such 
treaties had been made before with the Indians. Al- 
most thirty years previously, in 1654, when the Swedes 
controlled the Delaware, their governor, Rising, had 
made a treaty with the Indians with similar stipulations. 
Some years later the Quakers of Burlington, New Jer- 
sey, had also joined with the Indians in a treaty of 
amity and friendship ; and it may also be said that the 
Swedes and Dutch had always bought the land from 
the Indians. Penn was not aware that he was doing 
anything very remarkable, nor were his followers and 
friends ; and this accounts for their failure to keep care- 
ful records of it. 

Penn was a very busy man at that time. He was 
organizing the government of his province; he was lay- 
ing out the streets of Philadelphia, as v/ell as the lawns 
and gardens of his own country-place. He was visiting 
New York and Maryland, and travelling about to preach 
among the Quakers. He was surrounded by confusion 
of all sorts, — newly arriving immigrant ships unloading, 
houses being built, felled trees, stumps, and all the 
bustle and distraction of clearing a place for settlement 
in a wilderness. He had time neither for shows nor for 

107 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

talking of them. He wont on organizing his govern- 
ment; and part of that organization, as expressed in 
documents he had prepared, was to establish a good 
feeling between his people and the Indians. He was 
not at first successful In this The Indians appear to 
have misunderstood him, and their relations with him 
were not what was desired ; for in the passage that 
comes just before the one already quoted from the 

letter to the Society of Free Traders, he says: — 

•• hirst prayed mo to excuse them, that they had not com- 
plied with me, the last time ; he feared there might he some 
fault iti the interpreter, being neither Indian nor English ; 
besides, it was the Indian eastern to deliberate, and take up 
much time, in council, before they resolve ; and that if the 
young people and owners o( the land had been as ready as 
he, 1 had not met with so much delay." 

It was after-events, and not the treaty itself, which 
made it famous. The Indians had often before, and 
often after, heard fair promises. But IVim kept his, 
not merely in his own opinion or in the opinion o( his 
followers, but in the opinion of the Indians. As ten, 
fifteen, twenty, and thirty years rolled by, and the In- 
dians \ound every word in the treat) fulfilled by 
Mignon, as the Delawares called him, and Onas, as he 
was called by the Iroquois, the fame o( the one white 
man and Christian who could keep his faith with the 
savage spread far and wide, and the savage sent it 
across the Atlantic, 

Still, it was not such a wonder in England ; and if the 
great treaty had depended on Penn's countrymen, we 
should not have heard so much about it. But in 

1 08 



The Quakers and the Indians 

France and on the continent of Europe the great 
men and writers seized upon it as the most remarkable 
occurrence of the age. To these men, brought up 
under Latin Christianity, and accustomed to the atroci- 
ties and horrors inflicted by Cortez and Pizarro on the 
natives of South America, the thought of a Christian 
keeping his promise inviolate for forty years with 
heathen Indians was like refreshment in a great, weary 
desert. Who was the man, and to what church did he 
belong, that he had done what had never been done 
before, and what it was supposed never would be 
done? 

The man, it was answered, was a gentleman of 
education, the son of an English admiral, and the 
founder of the province of Pennsylvania, who had 
joined himself to a despised sect of simple people who 
had rejected all the doctrines and forms of mediaeval 
Christianity. That delighted Voltaire. It was the 
foundation of his love for the Quakers, and soon he 
wrote of the great treaty the immortal sentence: 
" This was the only treaty between these people and 
the Christians that was not ratified by an oath and that 
was never broken." 

Raynal is less concise, but he shows the feeling of 
the time: — 

" Here it is the mind rests with pleasure upon modern 
history and feels some kind of compensation for the disgust, 
melancholy, and horror which the whole of it, but particularly 
that of the European settlements in America inspires." 

To the Frenchman it seemed as if Penn had brought 
in a new era and taught the world for the first time that 

109 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

the lives And property of a heathen nation were to be 
respected. Our own people have caught this enthusi- 
asm ; And it has somewhat exaggerated the surroundings 
and details o\ the great treaty And obscured the plain 
truth of history. Returning to those details, it may he 
said that there is little reason to doubt that the treaty 
was held under the great elm at Kensington in Philadel- 
phia, where the monument now stands. We have noth- 
ing but tradition for this, but the tradition is not vague. 
A tradition which points to a particular spot and a par- 
ticular tree as the scene o\ aw event; a tradition which 
has been handed down from generation to generation, 
which can be traced in old records and letters, And 
which in those evidences never varies in its statement, - 
is deserving of great respect When the British occu- 
pied Philadelphia in 1777. General Simeoe was careful 
to put a guard around the elm to preserve it from Injury, 
The elm was also elose to the Fairman house, where 
Penn lived, and was the natural place for the treaty. 

Tt lias been often said that the effect of lVnn's un- 
swerving faith with the Indians preserved Pennsylvania 
in peaee for seventy years; and this is true, for there 
were no Indian wars in Pennsylvania until i";s. But 
the good accord and friendly feeling with the Indians 
lasted only a few years after lVnn's death, and the 
opposite feeling is generally believed to have set in 
soon after 1/22, But more than thirty years after this 
passed away before new circumstances And the conduct 
of lVnn's sons brought the Indians to actual and open 
hostility. 

In " The Importance of the British Plantations in 
America," a book published in 1731, the author, who 



The Quakers and the Indians 

had travelled in America, contrasts tin; condition of the 
Indian, in Pennsylvania with, their condition as he had 
n and known it in the other colonies j and he says 
in v.vy positive language that the Indians were generally 
ill-treated, defrauded, and irritated in the other colonies, 
but were fairly dealt with, peaceful, and contented in 
Pennsylvania. 

It has sometimes been said that the Pennsylvania 
Indians were peaceful because they were cowardly and 
vassals of the Six Nations of New York, which kept 
them in order. But, as we shall see, they always com- 
plained very promptly of ill-treatment, and even as 
»als were capable of inflicting much annoyance when 
irritated. 

During Penn's life, the settlers being still compara- 
tively few in numbers and not pressing closely on the 
Indian hunting-grounds, matters were easily and loosely 
managed. Many deeds were obtained from the Indians 
in that time, all of them vaguely expressed, with boun- 
daries by uncertain and almost unknown mountain- 
chains or by the heads of streams that no one had ex- 
plored. One of these deeds gave the land on both sides 
the Susquehanna River without describing the distance 
either east or west. This deed was obtained in \f><f), 
from the- Six Nations of New York, who held the Penn- 
sylvania tribes as vassals. The Six Nations in some- 
instances declared that they owned all the land in Penn- 
sylvania; but they usually claimed only the land along 
the Susquehanna, and probably for the reason that they 
wished to make sure of controlling that great highway 
to the South. When Penn established himself in Penn- 
sylvania, they gave all their land to Colonel Dongan, the 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Governor of New York, to take care of for them ; and 
from him Penn bought the Susquehanna country, which 
he was as anxious as the Six Nations to control as 
a great natural highway. The Pennsylvania Indians 
afterward complained to Penn that they had never 
been consulted in the purchase ; and he thereupon laid 
the deed before them and said that he and they should 
hold the land in common. He paid again for the land, 
and in 1700 they gave him another deed confirming the 
sale in language equally vague. But they never forgot 
his fairness in the matter. 

It was in this way that many of the early grants were 
obtained by deeds and deeds confirming deeds. The 
vague language of the Susquehanna deed probably 
meant that the valley was intended to be conveyed; 
that is, the land on each side as far as the heads of the 
streams that flowed into the river. 

After Penn's death, the colony increased so rapidly, 
and settlers became so eager for new land, that greater 
care had to be exercised, and after 1 722 the deeds became 
more accurate in their descriptions. Serious disputes 
with the Indians arose, some of which, however, were 
successfully compromised. Governor Keith settled, 
with but little trouble, a dispute between the South- 
ern and the Pennsylvania Indians in relation to 
hunting-grounds, and his action was ratified by the 
Six Nations. Soon afterward two settlers named 
Cartledge killed an Indian with much cruelty near 
Conestoga, and great fears were entertained of a general 
Indian uprising. But messengers were sent to the Six 
Nations, and ample reparation was offered. Keith, to- 
gether with the Governors of Virginia, New York, and 



The Quakers and the Indians 

the New England colonies, were invited to meet the 
Indians at Albany, where the King of the Six Nations 
pardoned the white men's offence. 

" The great King of the Six Nations is sorry for the death 
of the Indian who was killed, for he was of his own flesh and 
blood. He believes the Governor is also sorry ; but now that 
it is done, there is no help for it. And he desires that Cart- 
ledge may not be put to death, nor that he should be spared 
for a time and afterward executed. One life is enough to be 
lost ; there should not two die. The King's heart is good to 
the Governor and all the English." 

But the worst difficulty which began to arise about 
this time was that the settlers began to clear land and 
build cabins on tracts which had not been purchased 
from the Indians. This was a direct violation of numer- 
ous treaties and agreements, — agreements which had 
been confirmed over and over again ; and there were very 
strict laws of the province to carry these agreements 
into effect. The Indians entered complaints every time 
the intrusions occurred; and as time went on, and the 
settlers' love of fresh land increased, the complaints 
became loud and bitter. The proprietary government 
could not buy the land fast enough to keep pace with 
the advancing pioneers. It is difficult to fix the blame 
for this state of affairs on any particular persons ; and 
it must be confessed that the government made great 
efforts to prevent the inroads of the settlers, and some- 
times removed them from the unpurchased land, and in 
any event made haste to purchase the land as soon as 
possible. 

But in truth it was impossible to restrain the settlers. 
To the ordinary Scotch-Irish or German frontiersman, 
8 113 



Colo 15 ( iwealth 

. . '. ( lOt M I 

. ■■ ' 

Re 

1 ■ . . on tin •■ 

. -, 

ig their < 

1 S e 

it \:\, '.:.:■ this S} 

( .ul 

:ni men in the 
•\ gre\» y j •■ \ 1 neas) foi the} sa>& the ine\ 

w ho would 
• • ■ ' , l< , the most dangerous and 

\. last n • .> . an event occurred which made mat 
eal vvors< nost the 

hull. ins This was the famous Walk 
eed of the people foi Fresh, fertile 
land ha< ■ this time become centred on the Mini 

sink h laj along the I >ela^ w e, just north of 

•. and was usually spoken of -it that time as 
the land in the Forks of the Delaware William Allen, 
the chief justice* who was connected by marriage with the 
Penns, was Interested in tins tract He had .» general 
warrant for ten thousand acres which could be taken up 



'I he ( )uakeri and the India 

in a 

location, 1 h< prop 

and all thi 

j ..' if fertility 

ame imp< out of them, 'J 

it in large numbers and 

[ma . to - 

i 
ing do - . their ruler*, th< 

i 

, ished by this, and the propi 
made up their mind the .Mini-j'nk iaru 

i 
'J :.' '. . - '.' ■ .. p ported tob 

d for a line start- 
from the D< 
iton, and running 
. ith tin.- Deli 
'1 a half. At the end of 
to be 

ltd the i 
Lonj tob 

ound \>y having the line of th< 
/'■''■' 
ight a . 

tiin' 

promptl) 
npanted bi their pro 

and blan 

and tie Indian-, jvho <A 

their nation, and | fair play. 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

The men selected to do the walking were the strong- 
est and most active woodsmen that could be found. 
The Indians soon complained that they could not keep 
up with them and repeatedly called to them not to run. 
Finally, toward the end of the first day, being unable to 
stop the running, the Indians retired and left the white 
men to conduct the walk as they pleased. 

It had been generally understood by the Indians that 
the Walking Purchase extended only to the Lehigh 
River; and it was their opinion that a walk of a day and 
a half would reach only that far. But the walkers passed 
beyond the river on the first day. They travelled for 
twelve hours by the sheriff's watch ; and when at twilight 
he suddenly gave the signal that the time was up, Ed- 
ward Marshall, one of the walkers, fell against a tree, to 
which he clung for support, saying that a few rods more 
would have finished him. The next half-day the walk- 
ers reached a point thirty miles beyond the Lehigh ; and 
when the line was drawn from this point to the river, 
instead of taking it directly to the river, it was slanted 
upward for a long distance so as to include the whole 
of the valuable Minisink country. 

That this Walking Purchase was a fraud on the 
Indians no one has ever doubted. It was regarded as 
such at the time and treated as a joke. It sank deep 
into the Indian heart, and was never forgotten. As 
they never forgot the kindness and justness of Penn, so 
they never forgot this treachery of his sons; and in a 
few years the mutilated bodies and scalps of hundreds 
of women and children throughout the whole Pennsyl- 
vania frontier told the tale of wrong. 

The proprietors had made one mistake in their treat- 

116 



The Quakers and the Indians 

ment of the Indians, and they now proceeded to make 
another. The Indians refused to quit the Minisink 
lands; and they procured white persons to write letters 
to the governor and magistrates, in which the pro- 
prietors were roundly abused, and the announcement 
made that the Indians would hold their lands by force. 
Upon this the proprietors sent for the deputies of the 
Six Nations in New York, and a treaty was held in 
1742, at which the deputies of the Pennsylvania Indians 
were also present. The situation was explained to the 
deputies of the Six Nations, and they were asked to 
remove the Indians from the Forks of the Delaware. 
The Pennsylvania Indians were not called upon for a 
defence, and made none. 

The next day the Six Nations' deputies having de- 
liberated upon the matter and received a present of 
^"300, answered through their spokesman, Canassatego: 

" That they saw the Delawares had been an unruly People, 
and were altogether in the Wrong ; that they had concluded 
to remove them, and oblige them to go over the River 
Delaware, and quit all Claim to any Lands on this Side for 
the future, since they have received Pay for them, and it is 
gone through their Guts long ago : Then addressing the 
Delawares, he said, ' They deserved to be taken by the Hair 
of the Head and shaken severely, till they recovered their 
Senses and became sober — That he had seen with his Eyes 
a Deed signed by nine of their Ancestors above fifty Years ago 
for this very Land, and a Release signed not many Years since 
by some of themselves and Chiefs yet living, to the Number of 
fifteen and upwards.' < But how came you ' (says he, con- 
tinuing his Speech to the Delawares) ' to take upon you to sell 
Lands at all? We conquered you ; we made Women of you : 

117 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

You know you are Women, and can no more sell Lands than 
Women ; nor is it fit you should have the Power of selling 
Lands, since you would abuse it. This Land that you claim is 
gone through your Guts ; you have been furnished with Clothes, 
Meat and Drink, by the Goods paid you for it, and now 
you want it again like Children as you are. But what makes 
you sell Lands in the Dark? Did you ever tell us that you 
had sold this Land ? Did we ever receive any part, even the 
Value of a Pipeshank, from you for it? You have told us a 
blind story, that you sent a Messenger to us, to inform us of the 
Sale, but he never came amongst us, nor have we ever heard 
anything about it. This is acting in the Dark, and very 
different from the Conduct our Six Nations observe in the 
Sales of Land. On such occasions they give public Notice, 
and invite all the Indians of their united Nations, and give 
them all a Share of the Present they receive for their Lands. 
This is the behavior of the wise united Nations. But we find 
you are none of our blood ; you act a dishonest Part not only 
in this but in other Matters ; your Ears are ever open to 
slanderous Reports about your Brethren. For all these 
Reasons we charge you to remove instantly ; we don't give 
you the liberty to think about it. You are Women. Take 
the advice of a wise Man, and remove immediately. You 
may return to the other Side of Delaware where you came 
from ; but we do not know whether, considering how you 
have demeaned yourselves, you will be permitted to live there, 
or whether you have not swallowed that Land down your 
Throats as well as the Land on this Side. We therefore 
assign you two Places to go, either to Wyomen or Shamokin. 
You may go to either of these places, and then we shall have 
you more under our Eye, and shall see how you behave. 
Don't deliberate, but remove away, and take this Belt of 
Wampum." 

118 



The Quakers and the Indians 

The Delawares appear to have slunk away from the 
Council like whipped curs. They rapidly obeyed the 
orders they had received, removed from the Minisink 
lands, some going to the Ohio, some to Shamokin, and 
some to Wyoming, where they were some years after- 
ward found by the Connecticut explorers. The cruelty 
of bringing upon them their enemies and tyrants, the 
Six Nations, they never forgot. It deepened their 
hatred and their revenge, but it turned them from 
women to men. When their opportunity came in the 
French Wars, they revenged themselves not only on 
the white men, but on the Six Nations. They broke the 
yoke, became independent warriors, gathered together 
their scattered bands, and formed themselves into a 
nation of such unity and strength that in 1756 we find 
them boldly announcing that they intended to cut off 
all the English except those that might escape in ships ; 
and at this time the Six Nations, instead of ruling them 
as women, were humbly offering to make a treaty with 
them, and trying to persuade them not to destroy the 
white man. 

But the difficulties with unpurchased lands were not 
ended when the Indians were removed from the Forks 
of the Delaware. The conflict of interests moved on, 
and is given in full details in Charles Thompson's 
"Alienation of the Indians" and in the learned note to 
the second volume of Smith's Laws (p. 105). The pro- 
prietors found that by calling in the assistance of the 
Six Nations they had rather more than they bargained 
for. Having disposed of the Delawares in the Forks 
and ordered them out of the Council, the deputies of 
the Six Nations turned to the proprietors and said that 

119 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

there was another little matter of land that needed 
settlement. They had assigned some of the Pennsyl- 
vania Indians to live along the Juniata and che west 
bank of the Susquehanna. These lands had never 
been purchased, and yet settlers were intruding on 
them. The governor replied that magistrates had 
been sent to remove the settlers, and they would not 
stay after that. " We know you sent persons to 
remove them," said the deputies, " but they fail in 
their duty ; they make surveys for themselves and are 
in league with the trespassers. You must send men 
that are honest." 

The deputies of the Six Nations had just rendered 
such assistance to the government in removing the 
Indians from the Minisinks that it was evident that the 
Juniata difficulty must be settled as quickly as possible. 
Yet it dragged on for years. The lands were full of game, 
and used not only by the Delawares and Shawanese, 
who lived there, but also by the Six Nations, who 
sometimes came there to hunt. The lands were also 
fertile, and the white man was pressing in upon them, 
as he had pressed upon the Minisinks. The Indians 
were angry and persistent ; and they came so often, and 
their council-fires and presents were so expensive, that 
in 1750, Richard Peters, Secretary of the Land Office, 
went with some magistrates to evict the settlers. The 
work was done with thoroughness, the settlements 
broken up, and the cabins and buildings burnt. Peters 
himself said that if he did not succeed in removing 
these people, it would not be in the power of the gov- 
ernment to prevent an Indian war. But he had scarcely 
returned to Philadelphia before the settlers were all 



The Quakers and the Indians 

back again, and in a few years were more numerous 
and farther extended than ever, so inevitable was the 
march of civilization, and the steady alienation of the 
Indian. 

Still the Indians hesitated to join themselves com- 
pletely to the French, when in 1754 came another 
grasping purchase at the Albany Treaty. The conven- 
tion that made this treaty at Albany was held by 
direction of the crown to break up the practice of the 
colonies making separate treaties ; and it was hoped that 
all difficulties would be settled in a general agreement 
of all the colonies and all the Indians. To this treaty 
came the representatives of the Penns, determined 
among other things on a big purchase of land ; and the 
Connecticut people were also there, determined on such 
a purchase as would assist their claim to the northern 
half of Pennsylvania. 

The Penns gained only part of what they wanted, 
and secured a deed giving them a tract bounded on 
the northerly side by a line drawn from Shamokin to 
Lake Erie, and on the west and south by the utmost 
extent of the province. This grant included pretty 
much the whole of Pennsylvania west of the Susque- 
hanna. It was obtained by devices not particularly 
described by the writers of the time, but strongly 
hinted, and extending over a week. The Indians were 
deceived by compass courses which they did not 
understand ; and the deed was irregular, without proper 
notice according to the custom of the Six Nations, and 
gave away the land of tribes whose representatives had 
never signed it. When its import became known among 
the Pennsylvania Indians, they felt that all their land 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

was gone, and they must retire among the stranger 
tribes in Ohio. They went over in a body to the 
French, who promised to get them back their land, and 
when next heard of were shooting down the British 
regulars, and tearing scalps from the heads of women 
and children in Pennsylvania. 

The blame for all this could not be put upon the 
Quakers, and the Indians seem to have always known 
that and remembered it. Indeed, at one time in the 
midst of hostilities, when the Delawares had formed 
themselves into an independent nation, the Quakers 
made a very earnest and successful effort to secure 
peace. 

The alienation of the Indians was of course largely 
the inevitable result of the ambitious designs of France, 
and of the progress of our own race, which is very apt 
to crush inferior people in its course ; but a great deal 
of the blame rests with Thomas Penn, who was in the 
province at the time of the Walking Purchase, and 
directly responsible for it. He was also, through his 
agents, responsible for the grasping Albany deed of 
1754, which sent pretty much all the Pennsylvania 
Indians over to the French. 

But although the Quakers, so far as they had any 
control of Indian affairs, maintained an unblemished 
reputation for fairness, they accomplished little or 
nothing in the way of civilizing the Pennsylvania Indians, 
and it seemed as if nothing could be done. They 
could be merely dispossessed, and moved on and al- 
lowed to dwindle and become demoralized with as little 
harshness as possible. Their worst enemy was rum ; and 
if the Delawares had not at last been roused to manhood 



The Quakers and the Indians 

by their wrongs, the fire-water would have solved the 
Indian problem for Pennsylvania more rapidly and 
surely than kindness and treaties. The Delawares, 
Shawanese, and other tribes of the province were very 
inferior savages, cowed and degraded by the Six 
Nations of New York, and they easily succumbed before 
drink. Laws were continually passed to prevent its 
sale to them ; but apparently none of these laws could 
be executed, for in all the records and writings of the 
time we read of the fire-water's frightful ravages. 

The indifference with which the colonists allowed 
it to be furnished is well illustrated by what Franklin 
tells us of an Indian conference he attended at Carlisle. 
He and his fellow-commissioners had promised the 
Indians that if they would keep sober during the confer- 
ence, they should have all the rum they wanted after- 
ward ; and the promise being faithfully kept on both 
"sides, there was a most fiendish scene in the night. The 
drunken Indians, men and women, half-naked, fought 
each other with fire-brands, and the commissioners took 
refuge in the houses. Franklin closes his story with 
the remark that rum had already annihilated all the 
tribes of the sea-coast, and was possibly the means 
appointed by Providence to destroy a race that blocked 
the way of civilization. 

Nor did the Quakers succeed at all in converting the 
Indians to Christianity, and the only effective work of 
this sort was done by the Moravians. The Quakers 
were never very aggressive propagandists ; and even if 
they had been, it is difficult to conceive of an Indian 
turning Quaker. Such refined spirituality was beyond 
him; and he preferred the Catholic, whose elaborate 

123 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

ceremonies and ritual more readily appealed to him, 
or the New England Puritan, whose sternness he 
could fully appreciate. There were always, it is said, a 
large body of " praying Indians," as they were called 
in Massachusetts; and the French priests were certainly 
very successful at inculcating the divine duty of making 
captives of English children. 

But although the Indians seldom joined the Quakers, 
there was no body of Christians, Catholic or Protestant, 
for which they had such a deep and permanent respect. 
The tradition of this has survived among the Western 
tribes down to the present day, and was so strong after 
the Civil War that President Grant believed that it 
would be well to put our Indian affairs entirely in the 
hands of the one sect for which the savage had no 
contempt. 

The reason for this feeling of the Indian was not 
merely the recollection of fair treatment from Penn, but a 
certain consistency he had observed in Penn's followers. 
A savage is very quick to detect hypocrisy or a differ- 
ence between preaching and practice ; and when he heard 
Catholic or Presbyterian missionaries talk of gentleness, 
honesty, forgiveness, and sobriety, and looked about him 
at the Catholic or Presbyterian frontiersmen and traders 
who habitually cheated him, and whom he had often 
seen swearing, drunk, or murdering, there was no use in 
telling him that they were exceptions and not living up 
to the faith that was true in spite of them. The Indian 
traders of that time who cheated the Indians most atro- 
ciously were a very low class, often escaped convicts. 
They were the class the Indians saw most of, and they 
passed as representatives of the white race. But the 

124 



The Quakers and the Indians 

Quakers, who, whatever may have been their faults, were 
undoubtedly a very sober, industrious population, who, 
although they might connive at war in the legislature, 
had seldom to the Indians' knowledge ever committed 
acts of violence, presented an entirely different appear- 
ance. There were very few of them on the frontier, and 
those few were very respectable, quiet people; and there 
was a story current in colonial times that some Indian 
chief had said that the Quakers could not possibly be 
Christians because they never got drunk and never 
killed. 

But the time when peace could be maintained with 
the Indians by the recollection of Penn's kindness, their 
respect for the Quakers, the skill of deputy-governors, 
or the aid of the Six Nations was rapidly drawing to a 
close. The war which the French in Canada had been 
maintaining for half a century against the New England 
colonies was now working down into the valley of the 
Ohio. The French intended to get behind all the 
English colonies and cut them off from the Mississippi. 
They had planned a chain of forts from the Great Lakes 
to New Orleans, and they were soon exploring along 
the line, building camps or settlements and burying in 
the soil metal plates on which their claims were in- 
scribed. They were rapidly winning the alliance of 
the Indians of Pennsylvania and Ohio, and soon seduced 
three tribes of the Six Nations. It was this war that the 
Quaker Assembly of Pennsylvania saw in the distance, 
and determined to do their utmost to prevent. 

The Indians were not unwilling to allow it to be 
known that the French were tampering with them, for 
they were anxious to see which nation would bid high- 
ly 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

est in presents, and in any event they would receive pres- 
ents from both. A thousand pounds was accordingly 
provided by the Assembly, and Conrad Weiser, who was 
now Indian agent and interpreter for the province, was 
sent to learn in detail their designs. Maryland and 
Virginia were also urged to send presents and join 
in a great conference to be held with the tribes. 
Meantime the treaty of peace of Aix-la-Chapelle was 
signed Oct. 7, 1748; and the next month the new 
deputy-governor, James Hamilton, arrived. His father, 
Andrew Hamilton, had been for a long time a member 
of the Assembly and a distinguished lawyer of the 
province. 

The treaty of peace produced only a cessation of 
hostilities in Europe, and was hardly noticed in America. 
The Indians, elated with the presents they had received 
from the French, began to show toward the white man 
a contempt which they had never before exhibited in 
Pennsylvania. The Scotch-Irish and Germans west of 
the Susquehanna had been entering on Indian land 
which had not yet been purchased by the proprietors. 
This was now a common offence, and the people had 
become accustomed to the Indian complaints of it. But 
an insolence altogether new was now exhibited. The 
Senecas on their visit to Philadelphia killed the cattle 
of the people as they passed, and robbed their orchards, 
and another tribe destroyed the property of Conrad 
Weiser. Such a depredation as this had been never 
before experienced in the province, and was very signi- 
ficant. These Indians had a little before visited Phila- 
delphia, where they were given £500, but on returning 
home still greater regard had been shown them by the 

126 



The Quakers and the Indians 

French, and they had come again to Philadelphia in a 
very independent mood. 

To quiet the people and prevent retaliation on the 
Indians, the Assembly paid for all the damage done, 
and Richard Peters, now secretary of the province in 
the place of Logan, who had retired, accompanied by 
Weiser, was sent to expel the Scotch-Irish and German 
intruders on the Indian lands. But nothing could now 
stop the course of events. The Indians under the guid- 
ance of the French had learned the art of extorting 
presents from their friends the Quakers. Hamilton had 
scarcely been governor two years before the Assembly 
had to vote another large sum for presents to quiet the 
Six Nations as well as the Shawnees, Twightees, and 
Delawares. 

If such expense should continue and all the damage 
done by the Indians was to be paid for, it would be a 
serious drain on the provincial treasury; and as it was 
for the benefit of the proprietors as well as the colonists, 
the Assembly insisted that the proprietors should bear 
a part of it. They had already several times raised this 
question during the past twenty years, and the proprie- 
tors had yielded and borne their part of the expense of 
some of the conferences and treaties. But now they 
absolutely refused, and began a long and unfortunate 
controversy. 

The nine years Thomas Penn had spent in the colony 
and his careful study of its affairs had failed to enlarge 
his mind, and he had become hard, narrow, and meanly 
economical. It was to his interest to protect the prov- 
ince from Indians, for a war on the border would not 
help the sale of his land. Moreover, the presents that 

127 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

had been given the Indians helped him to buy lands 
from them all the cheaper. But independently of these 
considerations it was hardly worth his while to alienate 
the Assembly and the whole Quaker party for the sake 
of saving a small contribution to the Indian outlay ; 
and he made matters much worse by the arrogant and 
irritating manner in which he replied to the Assembly's 
request. He threatened them with his displeasure, re- 
minded them of the respect due his rank, and com- 
plained of the informality and lack of deference shown 
in their address to him. His family, he said, had 
already borne too much of the public expense, and had 
contributed ^400 for cannon to defend Philadelphia. 
The provincial treasury contained plenty of money for 
Indian expenses, and the Assembly might relieve the 
people of half the excise ; for the interest on the paper 
money was enough to maintain the government, and 
that interest would be soon increased by a fresh issue 
of the money. 

Franklin had been elected to the Assembly of 175 1 
and drew the Assembly's reply to the proprietors. 
This was his first state paper, and certainly an able one. 
It began the long contest against the Penns of which 
he soon became the avowed leader, and which was con- 
tinued until the Revolution. In this, his first essay on 
the subject, he warned the ruling family that the colony 
might soon be turned into a royal one, and to accom- 
plish this became shortly afterward the main object of 
his political career. 

The French were becoming bolder; and they now 
attacked the Twightee Indians and killed fourteen of 
them as a punishment for having allied themselves with 

128 



The Quakers and the Indians 

the English. An English company called the Ohio 
Company had taken up lands along the river of that 
name, and were surveying them preparatory to settle- 
ment. This the French declared was an invasion of 
their territory, and they began to arrest English traders 
and send them to France. 

But still the Assembly of Pennsylvania would do 
nothing but vote money for presents. The actual 
hostility of the French was, they said, a matter to be 
referred to the Six Nations and the Governor of New 
York; and they refused to build forts or trading-houses 
on the frontier, although Thomas Penn offered to con- 
tribute. The fort that was particularly recommended 
to be built was to be situated at the point of land where 
the Allegheny and Monongahela unite to form the 
Ohio, that important strategic point, afterward Fort 
Du Quesne, Fort Pitt, and Pittsburg. George Croghan, 
the Indian trader and agent, was very urgent for the 
building of this fort, which he said had been asked for 
by some of the friendly Indian tribes as a protection 
for them against the French. 

In after years, amid the horrors of the French and 
Indian Wars, the refusal of the Quaker Assembly to 
build this fort was remembered; and it was said that if 
it had only been built when asked for, the whole French 
invasion of the Ohio would have been prevented, the 
enormous expense and loss of the war rendered un- 
necessary, Braddock saved from defeat, and thousands 
of lives saved from torture and death. Some went even 
farther, and argued that not only would the French 
have been kept out of the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, 
but the frightful ravages of the war in Europe would 
9 I2 9 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonweath 

have also been prevented. So the blame for all the 
evil rested with the Quakers, they said, which showed 
how much trouble a little false doctrine could cause in 
the world. 

The Virginia Assembly had, however, also been asked 
to build the fort, and had refused. Sometime afterward 
they started to build it, and it was promptly captured 
by the French, — an event which would have happened 
just as certainly if it had been built by Quakers, for 
there was not force enough in the colonies to hold a 
fort in that situation; and to build it was merely to 
make a present of it to France. 



[ 3 o 



Commerce, Wealth, and Education 



CHAPTER VIII 

COMMERCE, WEALTH, AND EDUCATION 

THE province being now on the eve of a long war, it 
may be well to consider Pennsylvania's advancement up 
to this time, as well as certain new forces and conditions 
which began to be felt. 

The proprietors had now become allied with the 
Church of England ; and this change from the faith 
of their fathers made it all the easier for the Quaker 
Assembly to quarrel with them, and laid the foundation 
for a powerful popular party opposed to the proprietary 
interest. Quakers were no longer appointed to office. 
Logan's place as secretary was filled by Richard Peters, 
an Episcopal clergyman. The old line of Quaker chief 
justices, like Lloyd and Logan, had come to an end ; 
and men of the class of Shippen and Chew began to be 
appointed. The Churchmen, who formerly, under the 
lead of Colonel Quarry, had been the bitter opponents of 
the proprietary interest, were now strongly in its favor 
and enjoying its generosity in the distribution of offices. 
Instead of the Quakers controlling both the legislative 
and executive departments of the government, as they 
had done for sixty years, they now controlled only the 
Assembly, while the executive offices in the gift of the 
proprietors were in the hands of the Churchmen. In 
former years, the proprietary party, when the existence 

i3' 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

of a distinct party of that name was necessary, had been 
usually made up of Quakers, or nondescripts often 
called " governor's men." But now there were few, if 
any, Quakers in the proprietary party, and it was led by 
the Episcopalians. The rest of the colonial period is a 
history of the conflicts of these two parties, the Epis- 
copalian and the Quaker, one of which controlled the 
executive part of the government, and the other the 
legislative. 

Logan was dead. For half a century he had lived in 
the province, and during the greatei part of that time 
he had been a member of the Council and secretary, 
and had served the proprietors with untiring fidelity. 
His leisure time he had devoted to studies a\\^\ the col- 
lection of a library at his country-seat, Stenton. lie 
made investigations in botany and other scientific sub- 
jects, assisted deserving young men like Franklin and 
Godfrey, wrote books, and corresponded with learned 
men in Europe. Linnaeus named a class of plants after 
him, and at the time of his death he was considered 
one of the most accomplished men in America. In 
this respect he was Franklin's predecessor; and his 
library was joined with Franklin's to make the Phila- 
delphia Library, the first circulating library in the 
colonies. 

Two such men as Logan and Franklin were quite 
enough to make a little province only seventy years old, 
and not yet redeemed from the wilderness, the talk of 
the civilized world. Franklin had now made his great 
discovery in electricity, and his name was a household 
word in Europe. Other prominent men of the province 
were dabbling in science; and the merchants oi' l'hiladel- 

132 



% 

Commerce, Wealth, and Education 

phia had at their own cost sent two expeditions to dis- 
cover the northwest passage. The colony was certainly 
not suffering from mental stagnation. 1 

It was, indeed, remarkably successful and rich, and, 
in spite of all disputes with proprietors, governors, and 
Assembly, had been very well governed. The paper / 
money had been so prudently managed that even the 
British Parliament was convinced of its usefulness, and 
in an Act passed in 1 75 1 , prohibiting the northern 
colonies from issuing any more of such currency, 
Pennsylvania was excepted. Franklin was about this 
time chairman of a committee of the Assembly which 
with much complacency and pride prepared a report 
on the country's condition and prospects. From 1723 
to 1752 the number of vessels cleared from Philadelphia 
had risen from eighty-five to over four hundred per 
annum. In the last twenty years the population had 
almost doubled itself, and in the last ten years the 
imports from England had almost doubled. The price 
of labor was very high, although thirty thousand 
laborers had been imported in twenty years, for so 
great was the prosperity that nearly all the laborers 
imported rapidly became employers. 

Virginia was growing rich and reckless on a single 
staple, tobacco ; South Carolina on rice and indigo ; 
Massachusetts on codfish; but Pennsylvania was rap- 
idly surpassing them all by means of a great variety 
of products. As far back as 1 731, the variety of her 
exports had been remarkable, and was most attractively 

1 A full account of the early development of science and the 
mechanic arts in the province will be found in " The Making of Penn- 
sylvania," chapter ix. 

'33 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

described in that interesting old book, "The Importance 
of the British Plantations in America " : — ■ 



" The product of Pennsylvania, for exportation, is wheat, 
flour, bisket, barrelled beef and pork, bacon, hams, butter, 
cheese, cyder, apples, soap, myrtle-wax candles, starch, hair- 
powder, tanned leather, beeswax, tallow candles, strong beer, 
linseed oil, strong waters, deer skins, and other peltry, hemp 
(which they have encouraged by an additional bounty of 
three half pence per pound weight, over and above what is 
allowed by act of Parliament), some little tobacco, lumber 
(i.e., sawed boards, and timber for building of houses, cypress 
wood, shingles, cask staves and headings, masts, and other 
ship timber), also drugs of various sorts (as sassafras, calamus 
aromaticus, snake-root, etc.). Lastly, the Pennsylvanians 
build about 2,000 tons of shipping a year for sale, over and 
above what they employ in their own trade ; which may be 
about 6,000 tons more. They send great quantities of corn to 
Portugal and Spain, frequently selling their ships, as well as 
cargo ; and the produce of both is sent thence to England ; 
where it is always laid out in goods, and sent home to Penn- 
sylvania. They receive no less than from 4,000 to 6,000 
pistoles from the Dutch isle of Curacoa alone, for provisions 
and liquors. And they trade to Surinam, in the like manner, 
and to the French part of Hispaniola, as also to the other 
French sugar islands ; from whence they bring back molasses, 
and also some money. From Jamaica they sometimes return 
with all money and no goods, because their rum and molasses 
are so dear there. . . . They trade to our province of New 
England, Virginia, Maryland, and Carolina, and to all the 
islands in the West Indies, (excepting the Spanish ones) as 
also to the Canaries, Madeira and the Azores Isles ; like- 
wise to Newfoundland for fish ; which they carry to Spain, 

'34 



Commerce, Wealth, and Education 

Portugal and up the Mediterranean ; and remit the money 
to England ; which, one way or other, may amount to 
^60,000 yearly." 

Four years after Penn obtained his Charter the 
population of the province had risen from about two 
thousand to seventy-two hundred. Five or six years 
after that it had doubled, and so it went on until 
in 1740 the province had caught up to and passed 
every other colony except Maryland, Massachusetts, 
and Virginia. Ten years later Maryland was passed, 
and just after the Revolution Massachusetts was out- 
stripped. For over a hundred years Boston was the 
largest city in the colonies. But about 1750 Phila- 
delphia was even with her in the race, and soon was 
far ahead, remaining the metropolis of the country 
until excelled by New York in the first half of the 
present century* When it is remembered that most of 
the colonies were founded thirty or forty years before 
Pennsylvania, this growth seems very rapid. 

Not only the province, but the proprietors were grow- 
ing rich. Penn had lost money by the province; but 
his sons reaped a rich harvest from the quit-rents and 
sales of land. In 1759 Franklin estimated their wealth, 
derived from Pennsylvania alone without counting 
Delaware, at about ;£i 0,000,000 sterling, and their 
annual income derived from quit-rents at ,£58,936 
sterling. This was, however, largely guess-work, for 
the Penns never made their accounts public. In recent 
years, their accounts have come into the hands of the 
Historical Society of Pennsylvania; and though no one 
has yet attempted a complete analysis of the numerous 

135 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

volumes, there is enough in the summary contained in 
the last volume to throw some light on the subject. 
From this it appears that their whole estate and 
property in Pennsylvania, that could be estimated in 
1 759, was not above ,£4,000,000, instead of the 
;£ 10,000,000 estimated by Franklin, and their annual 
income was only about ;£ 10,000, instead of the ,£58,936 
of Franklin. To bring these estimates to the equivalent 
values of our own time, we should multiply them by at 
least four, which shows the proprietors to have been 
quite rich enough. 

In the Revolution, the Pennsylvania Assembly of 
course abolished the political power of the Penns and 
their feudal title to the land; but they were allowed to 
keep certain private estates which had been settled on 
the children of Penn's first wife, all their manors, and 
some of their quit-rents ; and to reimburse them for 
what was confiscated, the Assembly gave them ,£130,000 
in money, and regretted that they could not make the 
gift larger. This was certainly generous, when we 
consider that it was done in 1779 in the midst of a 
Revolution, when the property of Tories was usually 
confiscated entire without any indemnity. The amount 
the Penns lost by the Revolution they estimated at 
,£944,817, and claimed it from the British government. 
They were given an annuity of .£4,000 a year, which in 
1884 was commuted by a grant of £67,000. They 
still own a few manors in the interior of the State, and 
collect a few quit-rents through their agents, and some 
of the land on which quit-rents are paid lies in the most 
populous part of Philadelphia. 

But although Pennsylvania prospered greatly in 

136 



Commerce, Wealth, and Education 

material things, no efforts were made for a long time to 
establish a college, or seat of learning. In fact, the 
province was seventy years old and had made no pro- 
vision for any sort of higher education and very little 
for even the mere rudiments. There were a few ex- 
cellent academies, conducted by the Presbyterians, 
scattered throughout the colony, but none of any 
importance in Philadelphia. The Quakers as a class 
were not interested in colleges or universities and con- 
fined their efforts to schools alone. Many prominent 
men besides Franklin were alarmed at the ignorance in 
which not only the masses, but even the sons of the 
best citizens were growing up. The opinion was gain- 
ing ground that the people born in the colony were 
inferior in intelligence to their fathers, who had emi- 
grated from England. Few could afford to send their 
children across the Atlantic to be educated, and at 
that time the only seats of learning in America were 
Harvard and Yale, far to the north in New England, 
and the college of William and Mary, far to the south 
in Virginia. New York and the other middle colonies 
were as destitute in this respect as Pennsylvania. 

Franklin had attempted to establish an academy, or 
school of high order, in 1743, but was prevented by the 
Assembly's disputes with Governor Thomas and the 
preparations for war which fully occupied the attention 
of the colonists ; and it was not until 1749 that his plans 
were successful. The academy was started and occu- 
pied a great building on Fourth Street, south of Arch, 
which had been built for the preaching of the famous 
Whitefield. It was rapidly filled with pupils. Four 
years afterward, in 1753, a charter was obtained for itl/ 

*37 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

from the proprietors; and two years after, in 1755, such 
was its success that it was chartered as the College, 
Academy, and Charitable School of Philadelphia, and 
for the next twenty-five years always spoken of as The 
College. 

In a colony so advanced in liberal opinions as Penn- 
sylvania then was, and so split up into sects, it is natural 
to find the promoters of this college announcing that it 
was to be what is now called non-sectarian. Franklin 
says that the Board of Trustees contained an Episco- 
palian, a Presbyterian, a Baptist, and a Moravian, with 
the intention of being very catholic and liberal. He 
adds that when the place of the Moravian, who was not 
very congenial to the others, became vacant, the Board 
were at a loss how to fill it. Some one suggested that 
Franklin was simply an honest man of no religion at 
all, and he was immediately elected. 

The theory of this balance and representation among 
sects seemed very just and desirable, but it was im- 
possible to carry it out in practice. If the balance had 
been really maintained, the college would have been a 
lifeless nonentity. In its actual working the control 
was sure to gravitate to some one party or one man, 
and it was much better that it should. The party to 
which it gravitated was the Episcopal and proprietary 
party, and the man was the Rev. Dr. Smith, the provost. 

In fact, the greater part of the money which built up 
the institution was furnished by people of the Church 
of England. The proprietors gave it apparatus, a 
yearly sum of money, and also about ^"3,000. The 
provost visited England and returned with funds which 
he had collected from the two archbishops, all the 

138 



Commerce, Wealth, and Education 

bishops, a large number of the clergy, a long list of 
noblemen, and almost every college in the English 
universities. 

The Quakers not caring for a college, it was natural 
that the control of it should go to the Churchmen, who 
after the Quakers were the most numerous religious 
body in the city. The Presbyterians were strong in the 
country districts, and they afterward had their own 
college, Dickinson at Carlisle. The Quakers controlled 
the Pennsylvania Hospital, which, being philanthropic, 
suited them better than a seat of learning. The college 
and the hospital became party strongholds, and were 
developed with the full force of partisan zeal and 
energy. 

The selection of Smith for provost was fortunate for 
the college, and has added many an interesting page to 
the history of Pennsylvania. He was only twenty-seven 
years old when he was elected, but he rapidly became 
not only a remarkable college president, but a politician 
of considerable importance. His name is now mean- 
ingless to most of us; but in his day he was famous in 
all the colonies and as well-known among Pennsylva- 
nians as Franklin or Dickinson. 

He was a Scotchman of good family, educated at the 
University of Aberdeen, and from his earliest years 
seems to have had ideas of reform in education which 
he tried in vain to make popular in his native country. 
He came to New York when twenty- four years old, as 
tutor to some young gentlemen who were returning to 
America. New York was at that time as much in need 
of good schools and a college as Philadelphia, and her 
prominent people were looking forward to their estab- 

J 39 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

lishment. Young Smith again broached his ideas, but 
they were too far advanced for the New Yorkers. 
They were, however, in almost exact accord with the 
notions of Franklin and his friends, who had already 
established the Academy at Philadelphia, and were 
expecting every year to turn it into a college. 

Franklin's views of the true method of education were 
very extreme. As there is no department of modern 
science the beginnings of which he did not develop, so 
he was the first definitely to state in this country the 
modern theory of education which discards Latin and 
Greek with the intention of substituting for them 
modern languages and useful scientific information ; 
and it would be difficult to find any recent argument on 
the subject which is any better than his. 

He was a very earnest advocate of what are now 
called English branches and what were then called 
foolishness. He believed that the systematic study of 
English would give the same knowledge of language 
structure and the same mental training that was sup- 
posed to be attainable only through Latin and Greek. 
Deeply convinced of the command of language he had 
himself acquired from analyzing and rewriting Addison's 
Essays, me wished to set up the study of that author 
and the study of Pope, Milton, and Shakespeare as 
against Cicero, Virgil, and Homer. It had always 
impressed him very much that after he had learned the 
modern languages he found he acquired Latin with 
great facility. The modern languages, he said, would 
give all the training that could be obtained from Latin 
and Greek, and were of more practical utility. Add to 
these languages a good knowledge of natural science, 

140 



Commerce, Wealth, and Education 

astronomy, history, government, with athletic sports 
thrown in, and your education was complete. 

The other promoters of the college were not quite 
so extreme as Franklin; but they had the same 
general ideas, and when they found that young 
William Smith in New York was also of their 
way of thinking, they immediately called him to be 
head of their college. He had recently written a 
pamphlet in which he expressed his advanced ideas, 
and he was allowed to put them in practice in Phil- 
adelphia; so that it may be said that the modern 
theory of American education had its beginning at 
Philadelphia nearly a hundred years before it was 
established in any other community in the country. 

Smith had made known his opinions in New York in 
a pamphlet called " A General Idea of the College of 
Mirania," written with the enthusiasm and confidence 
attainable only at the age of twenty-five. Mirania was 
an imaginary colony in America, of a rather mixed 
population, like New York and Pennsylvania. But the 
Miranians were people of great enlightenment, and had 
established the ideal colonial college, about which 
one of them named Evander gave a very interesting 

account. 

The object of such colleges, Evander said, was not 
to make scholars, but useful citizens ; and to this end 
his people considered themselves as divided into two 
classes. The first consisted of those intended for the 
learned professions, — divinity, law, and medicine, — 
who must necessarily stay in the old paths and study 
Latin and Greek. The second class was composed of 
all the rest of the people; and these were to be taught 

141 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

very much in the manner adopted at the academy in 
Philadelphia, suggested by the ingenious Dr. Franklin. 
Then follows a long description of the way in which a 
knowledge of accounts, mathematics, oratory, poetry, 
chronology, history, natural and mechanic philosophy, 
agriculture, ethics, physics, chemistry, anatomy, modern 
languages, fencing, dancing, religion, and everything 
else useful was to be pumped into that remnant of the 
population who were not to stand in the old ways. 
The students passed through the preparatory schools 
and the early years of the college course, drenched at 
every step with all this useful knowledge, which they 
absorbed through every pore, until they reached the 
next to the last class, where they were taught oratory 
and rhetoric, or the art of expressing themselves, so 
that the mass of knowledge which now distended their 
skins almost to bursting might be made effective in 
the world. 

The last or fifth year of the course was to be devoted 
to agriculture, the philosophy of history, and the 
philosophy of politics, which would crown the whole. 
Reserving political history for the last, as requiring 
the greatest maturity of mind for its comprehension, 
was not inconsistent with the ideas of education which 
prevail now in our own time. The prominence given 
to agriculture was somewhat peculiar. Evander said 
that, like history and politics, it required the ripest 
judgment, and, like them, had been neglected in all 
previous schemes of education. It was considered of 
great importance at that time, especially in the colonies 
where there were no manufacturing or business classes, 
and where the men of substance and even the aris- 

142 



Commerce, Wealth, and Education 

tocracies were made up partly of shipowners, but 
mostly of farmers and planters. The farmer in those 
days and far down into the times of Jefferson and 
Madison was a man to be treated with respect, and was 
never made the stock material for comic journals. 

It would be long to give all the details of this essay 
on the College of Mirania, which in some respects is 
more interesting than anything Smith ever wrote. It 
was too much for New York; but Franklin and the 
trustees were charmed with it, and declared that, though 
excellent, it was all perfectly practicable. " For my 
part," said Franklin, " I know not when I have read a 
piece that has so affected me, — so noble and just are 
the sentiments, so warm and animated the language." 
The young author of it was secured at once for the 
Provost of Philadelphia College ; and the theories of 
Mirania were put into practice as far as possible. 

As we read the printed curriculum of the college, with 
its ethics, natural and civil law, laws of government, laws 
of trade and commerce, architecture, anatomy, hydro- 
statics, pneumatics, light, optics, perspective, history of 
vegetables and animals, the " Spectator," the " Rambler," 
Dryden, Pope, Vossius, Patoun, Sir Isaac Newton, Lord 
Bacon, and so on, it forms a most extraordinary contrast 
to the short, simple statement which at that time described 
the old-fashioned mental sustenance which satisfied the 
students of Harvard and Yale in the north and William 
and Mary in the south. 

These strange courses which Smith introduced also 
contained the beginnings of the modern elective system. 
But Smith was more than a college president. His 
active mind seized on every human interest within his 

J 43 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

reach, and he took his college with him into politics 
and made it a power for the proprietary party. He 
became the leader of that party pitted against his old 
friend Franklin, with broad plans for the advancement 
of the proprietors' interests, the conquest of the conti- 
nent from the French, and the conversion of the Germans 
to English ways. 

144 



The Seven Years' War Begins 



CHAPTER IX 

THE SEVEN YEARS' WAR BEGINS 

THE long series of wars between England and France 
which had now reached a crisis had been known among 
the colonists by various names. The contest from 1689 
to 1697 they called King William's War; and in this 
Massachusetts had distinguished herself by the expedi- 
tion against Canada under Sir William Phipps. Then 
there was five years' rest; and in 1702 Queen Anne's 
War began and lasted to the peace of Utrecht in 1713. 
After this there was a long peace of over thirty years, 
during which, the ocean being free from privateers, 
Pennsylvania prospered so abundantly under the popu- 
lar rule of her best governors, Keith and Gordon. It 
was in this period that the province made up for lost 
time in having been founded so long after all the other 
principal colonies, and became such a wonder for rapid 
growth and success. 

The next war, which began in 1744 at the close of this 
period of thirty years, was called King George's War, 
and was supposed to have been ended by the treaty of 
Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. But this treaty of peace was 
merely formal, and in America did not even amount 
to a cessation of hostilities. France continued to push 
her advantage on the Ohio, and in 1755 the colonies 
were precipitated into what became known as the Seven 
10 145 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Years' War ; and this war ended the series, and put at 
rest forever the question of who should own the North 
American continent. 

In all these conflicts down to the Seven Years' War 
the brunt of the struggle, so far as the colonists were 
concerned, had been borne by New England and New 
York. Not only had New England, under the leader- 
ship of Massachusetts, taken the principal part in the 
expedition of Sir William Phipps in King William's 
War, the similar expedition against Canada in Queen 
Anne's War, and the famous capture of Louisburg in 
King George's War, but her frontier had been all the 
time in close contact with the French and their Indian 
allies, and continually suffered from their incursions. 
New England had had a long training in military affairs, 
and before Pennsylvania was founded had fought two 
wars with the Indians. 

But from all these disasters and horrors Pennsylvania 
had heretofore been entirely free ; and she had taken no 
part in the wars against Canada except to send men 
occasionally from the combatant portion of her people 
and vote money by the Quaker Assembly to assist New 
England and New York. Like Virginia and other 
southern and middle colonies, she was not much inter- 
ested in these wars, which were so far away. All the 
colonies south of New York felt themselves protected 
from the enemy by New England and New York, and 
were not much excited by the contest. In fact, consid- 
ering the security of her position, with New York be- 
tween her and the enemy, and the scruples of the 
Quakers and German sects, Pennsylvania had done 
rather more than was to be expected. 

146 



The Seven Years' War Begins 

But the enemy had now begun to sting another colony 
and excite her to exertion. The valley of the Ohio, 
where the French were penetrating, was claimed by 
Virginia as part of her territory, and she made efforts 
to protect it. The expeditions she sent for this pur- 
pose, conducted by Washington, then a mere youth, are 
familiar history, and need not be repeated. Governor 
Hamilton appealed to the Pennsylvania Assembly to 
assist these expeditions, and entered into a long con- 
troversy with them to prove by maps and the testimony 
of hunters that the French were not only on British soil 
but within the limits of Pennsylvania. The Assembly, 
however, decided that the enemy were as yet only in 
Virginia, and the Virginians should attend to them. 

After Washington's defeat at Fort Necessity, Hamilton 
appealed again, and might have been successful if he 
had not insisted on amending the money bill which the 
Assembly offered him. This at once drove them into 
opposition ; and they felt bound to stand upon their con- 
stitutional right, the same as the right of the English 
commons, of having their money bills received or re- 
jected without amendment. What they should give 
must be given on their own terms or not at all. 

This was the beginning of difficulties which lasted all 
through the war. The governors defeated the attempts 
of the Assembly to defend the country by turning every 
money or supply bill into a question of constitutional 
rights. The colonial assemblies, and especially the 
Assembly of Pennsylvania, have been much blamed for 
their slowness in supporting the war against the French, 
but usually by writers who would not take the trouble 
to investigate and understand the real situation. It was 



47 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

not the Pennsylvania Assembly that was to blame, but 
her governor, who by the necessity of a war supply 
wished to force the colony to yield its rights established 
by the struggles of over seventy years. 

Hamilton, weary of his disputes with the Assembly, 
resigned; and Robert Hunter Morris arrived to take 
his place in October, 1754. The Pennsylvania Indians 
were now rapidly joining the French; and when Morris 
asked for money, the Assembly promptly passed a bill 
providing for an issue of ,£40,000 in paper money 
redeemable in twelve years, of which £20,000 should 
be for the king's use. This sum of £20,000 was a very 
large war contribution. It was the same amount that 
Virginia, the most active of the colonies against the 
French, had just given, and it was much more than 
other colonies gave. New York gave only £5,000, 
Maryland £6,000, and New Jersey nothing. 

But Morris would not assent to the Assembly's bill. 
He had instructions, he said, to assent to no paper- 
money bill unless there was a clause suspending it from 
going into effect until the king approved of it, or unless 
the money was to be redeemable within five years. 
These suspending clauses had been tried by previous 
governors, and always defeated. It was impossible for 
the Assembly to pass a bill with such a suspending 
clause. It would have been surrendering one of the 
colony's most important rights. By its charter, the 
province had a right to pass laws which need not be 
submitted to the king for five years and during that 
time were valid ; and the Assembly dared not make a 
precedent of passing a law which should not go into 
effect till the king's pleasure was known. It would 

14s 



The Seven Years' War Begins 

have been sacrificing the most important privilege the 
colony possessed ; and the Assembly knew full well that, 
in this attempt on their liberties, the proprietors were 
aided and abetted by the Privy Council. It was fully 
as much their duty to resist this invasion as to resist 
the French. 

Nor could they make the money redeemable in five 
years. It was too short a time, and would ruin the peo- 
ple on whose land the money was secured. Their land 
would be sacrificed by early foreclosures. Under the 
circumstances of the province more time than five years 
had to be always given for the redemption of paper 
money. Moreover, this was an attempt, like Hamilton's 
shortly before, to interfere with the way in which the 
colony was to raise the money. The king had a right 
to ask for aid, but it was the right of the colony to use 
its own methods in furnishing it. 

The Assembly explained all this at length to the new 
governor, and also reminded him that Governor Thomas 
had assented to an issue of £5,000 redeemable in ten 
years; that Governor Hamilton, though bound by bonds 
and instructions, had considered himself at liberty to 
pass such bills without a suspending clause, and that 
this very question of a suspending clause had been 
raised before and decided in accordance with the 
opinion of the Assembly. 

To make matters worse, the governor refused to let 
the Assembly see the instructions from the proprietors 
under which he was acting. This raised another con- 
stitutional controversy, for the Assembly had always 
refused to be governed in the dark by secret instruc- 
tions ; and they were now the more strenuous on this 

149 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

point because they knew that several bills had been 
recently introduced in Parliament for the purpose of 
making royal instructions binding on all the colonial 
assemblies without regard to their charters or constitu- 
tional rights. 

These attacks on colonial liberty, the attempt to 
make royal instructions binding on the assemblies, the 
attempt to introduce clauses in their laws suspending 
their operation until the king's pleasure should be 
known, the attempt to amend their money bills and 
control the way in which they should raise money, the 
attempt to control the distribution and expenditure of 
their money after it was raised, were as far-reaching and 
dangerous as the stamp acts and tea acts which after- 
ward caused the Revolution. Indeed, they were more 
so, and might have created revolution, if revolution had 
not been hopeless in the face of the French invasion. 
If almost any one of them — the attempt, for example, 
to make royal instructions binding on the assemblies — 
had been successful, it would have destroyed the greater 
part of their liberty ; and if all the attempts had been 
successful, their liberties would have been completely 
eclipsed. If the Pennsylvania Assembly, for the sake 
of helping the war, had yielded to these attempts, the 
province might just as well have been conquered by 
the French; and in fact her chance for liberty under 
the French would have been better. 

In their dispute with Morris on this occasion, they 
have been much abused for thwarting the plans of the 
British Empire against the French and for failure to 
see the manifest destiny of the continent. But they 
were no more backward than the other colonies, 

ICO 



The Seven Years' War Begins 

which were all very careful not to lose their lib- 
erties under the plea of assisting the war. New 
York maintained a stubborn contest against her 
governor because he tried to use the necessities of 
the war for forcing a permanent provision for his ex- 
penses of government instead of leaving it dependent 
on his ability to please the Assembly. As for the 
Pennsylvania Assembly, when they found they could 
not agree upon a supply with their governor without 
wrecking their liberties, they raised it in their own way 
by a committee which was authorized to borrow £5,000 
on the credit of the Assembly. 

During all this time when Virginia was so active and 
the other colonies were being asked for money, France 
and England were supposed to be at peace, for the 
treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, of 1748, was still in force. 
It was the policy of France to keep it in force, and 
under its protection quietly push her settlements and 
forts toward the Mississippi. This was soon observed 
by the British ministry, and it became their evident 
duty to break the treaty, and stop this southern growth 
of France before it became too strong. 

Two regiments of five hundred men each, under 
Major-General Braddock, embarked in January, 1755, 
for America, where their numbers were to be increased 
by enlistment. This was no sooner known in France 
than eighteen men-of-war with three thousand troops 
were ordered to prepare for Canada. They sailed in 
May, four months after Braddock had started, and an 
English fleet was sent to intercept them. The diplomats 
on each side protested that there was no hostile intent 
in these preparations; but the English officers had 

r 5' 



S ... V 

tack as s< 
6 also tol< 

tseli ncai the s 

■ 

successful!} . - . - 

. - 

. i ■ his ma 

... .- and 

jeh es al 
fh< j vi i and ab 

eleven o*clock I i lexl daj the"Di ik $ overhauled 
S n she \va French 

out, "• Is Accounts 

diffe as I the reply of the English captain, He may 
have said, " Peace, peac ac 

count, he may have said, " 1 don 1 ! know, but you had 
ter prepare for wj rhe next moment he settled 

n b) pouring a >ide on the French 

man's deck, It was war, and the treaty of Ai\ la 
Chapelle was broken. 






Braddock's Defeat 



CHAPTER 

BRADDO< i .' I DEFEA1 

Poob Braddock! They haw overwhelmed him with 
such a mass of abuse thai h is difUcull to discovei 
what sort of man ru really was II' was trained only 
in European warfare, and knew nothing of campaigning 
in forests 01 of tin bushwhacking tactics of the Indians, 
But in this respeel he was no different from othei 
English officers. It was his misfortune to lead the 
first importanl British expedition that penetrated far 
into the interior of the American forest He con 
ducted it, of course, by methods to which h< 
accustomed; but he adapted himself to circumstan< 
much mor< than has been generally supposed. 
After li f : was defeated, it was i asy enough to se< his 
mistakes, and in future expeditions they wen avoided. 
\\> had th< bad luck to mak< the first experiment, and 
be the sacrifice that revealed better methods. 

As he was to march through Pennsylvania to driv< 
an enemy from the province, the Assembly wen n 
quired to raise three thousand m< n, supply provisions, 
and provide Braddock's officers with means of travel 
ling, b< sides contributing to a g< n< ral fund to be rai ted 
from all the colonies. But Governor Morris refused to 

acceptthe Assembly's ^rant. of /, 20,000 ; and all tli'y 

could do was to establish a post rout' between Philadel- 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

phia and Winchester on the Virginia i rentier, and 
furnish wagons and pack-horses. 

Franklin procured the wagons, lie had been sent 
bv the Assembly to Braddock's headquarters, to give 
assistance and prevent Braddock from makingaraid into 
Pennsylvania, as he threatened, to procure the wagons. 
It was while on this visit that Franklin appears in 
Thackeray's " Virginians," where he is described as a 
shrewd, bright, little man. who would drink only water, 
a good contrast to Braddock's roistering companions, 
but very unlike the actual Franklin. 

Braddock had been utterly unable to obtain wagons 
in Virginia, lie caught eagerly at what Franklin said 
about the abundance o\ wagons in Pennsylvania, and 
soon tiie supposed water-drinker was commissioned 
to procure one hundred and fifty wagons And fifteen 
hundred pack-horses, lie returned to Pennsylvania 
and in two weeks had delivered all the wagons and two 
hundred and lift}- of the pack-horses. lie had only 
£800 from Braddock, and was obliged to advance £200 
himself and give bond to indemnify the owners o\ such 
horses as should be lost in the service. Claims to the 
amount oi £ jo, 000 were afterward made against him, 
which would have completely ruined him if his credi- 
tors had not been lenient, and the government after 
long delay had not at last come to his rescue. This 
was his most conspicuous public service, since he had 
organized the Associators in the Spanish war, and his 
popularity was greatly increased. He had a few years 
before made his great discovery in electricity, and was 
rapidly becoming known throughout the world. 

The Assembly also sent a train of twenty pack horses 



Braddock's Defeat 

laden with provisions, for the officers of the army, and 
at Braddock's request prepared to cut a road through 
the woods, for the march of his army. These were 
certainly warlike measures for Quakers, and they were 
going on to raise money for the troops and the general 
fund, when they were delayed by a silly attack upon 
them by the governor, for printing with their minutes 
certain letters which had already appeared in the 
English newspapers, but which the governor declared 
should have been kept secret. When in spite of all this, 
the Assembly passed a bill raising ,£25,000 in paper 
money for the king's use, he added to all his stupidity 
by refusing to sign the bill until lie had showed it to 
the king. The Assembly, however, were determined to 
assist the war, and by the same plan they had adopted 
some months before, voted £15,000, to be raised on 
their own credit without any dealings with the governor. 

This earnestness shows how unfounded is the charge 
commonly brought against the Assembly, that the prin- 
ciples of its Quaker majority prevented the defence of 
the frontier. It was the governor and not the Assembly 
that was the stumbling-block in the way of war supplies. 
Morris was one of the worst governors the province had 
ever had. After half a century of good government 
and prosperity the people seemed to be returning to 
the old evil times of Governor Evans. 

Morris, when his whims were not gratified, was con- 
tinually threatening the displeasure of the king, and 
also, with some significance, of Parliament. This was 
the beginning of the appearance of Parliament as an 
enemy of the colonics. Heretofore the colonies had 
been ruled by the king, and had had their quarrels with 

'55 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

the king. But now the legislative part of the British 
empire was rising in importance, and Morris was one 
of the Tories who favored the extension of its jurisdic- 
tion in America. 

It was now the month of June, and the bumptious 
Braddock, with something over two thousand men, was 
creeping down the western slopes of the Alleghenies 
toward Fort Du Quesne. His little army was completely 
equipped with all the arms, supplies, tools, and para- 
phernalia which in European wars were carried with- 
out difficulty over military roads. But he was not in 
Europe. Every step of his way to Fort Du Quesne was 
among the trunks of trees. It was trees, trees, the end- 
less, monotonous forest, beneath whose shadows, day 
after day, and week after week, the minds of the 
soldiers grew weary and despondent. And he was 
actually attempting to penetrate these woods and pass 
over the mountains with a train of artillery. Instead 
of making twenty miles a day with fifteen hundred light- 
armed men, he was making only three miles a day. 
His horses, with only the leaves of trees and bushes to 
eat, were rapidly giving out, and his men were being 
weakened by dysentery. 

The Indians, now thoroughly in the French interest, 
watched every step of Braddock's progress and shot and 
scalped any one who wandered from the line. As soon 
as they were assured that the white man's army was 
well into the Alleghenies and the province defenceless, 
they fell upon the border settlements and killed about 
thirty people, mostly women and children. This was 
the first Indian massacre of the war. 

From 1682 to 1755, a period of seventy-three years, 

156 



Braddock' s Defeat 

the good faith and honor of the early days when Penn 
was alive had kept the Indian's tomahawk in his belt. 
But times had changed ; the Scotch-Irish frontiersman, 
the Walking Purchase, the Albany deed of 1754, and 
the cunning Frenchman had done their work, and the 
scalping-knife and hatchet were drawn. 

Washington persuaded Braddock to leave the main 
body of his army with their artillery and press on 
rapidly with twelve hundred men. This advance was 
conducted by Braddock rather too slowly to suit 
Washington, but with considerable care ; scouts and 
reconnoitring parties were used, and Braddock was not, 
as has been generally supposed, ambuscaded. Modern 
investigations of the battle show that the defeat was 
largely an accident, — a piece of bad luck, or good luck, 
as it seemed to the French. 

He reached the Monongahela about seven miles from 
Fort Du Ouesne, on the 9th of July, 1755 ; and he was 
not marching along, as some have said, in serene 
security and joyous expectation of immediate victory. 
His men were drawn together in excellent order, with 
flanking parties and an advance-guard. He had the 
choice of two ways. One was through a narrow defile 
where he might have been ambuscaded, and this he 
carefully avoided, taking a somewhat longer route in 
which he must twice ford the Monongahela. He ex- 
pected that the French would attack him at the second 
ford, and he was right, for they had made every 
preparation to do so; but a strong advance party 
which he sent to the ford found no enemy, crossed 
without opposition, and guarded the opposite shore. 

The truth of the matter was that the French were 

i57 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

greatly alarmed at his approach and scarcely knew 
what to do, At first they are said to have made 
preparations for surrendering on the best terms they 
could get. When they decided to go out and ambus- 
cade the English, the Indians thought it a reckless 
enterprise and refused to take part. Finally, at the last 
moment on the morning of the 9th, they were per- 
suaded, and about six hundred set out to lie in wait at 
the ford, accompanied by three hundred French and 
Canadians, making about nine hundred in all. Open 
barrels of powder and bullets were placed at the gate 
of the fort, and, filling their horns and pouches from 
these as they passed out, the party plunged into the 
woods. 

Beaujeau commanded them ; but he encountered 
obstacles in his march. Some of his Indians wandered 
off and did not join him again for hours; so that he 
spent the whole morning without reaching the ford. 
Meantime the English crossed the river, and made as 
much parade and flourish as possible for the sake of 
impressing the minds of any French scouts that were 
watching them. They had eaten their midday meal 
on the other side, and had taken up their line of march 
again after crossing, when their advance-guard suddenly 
met Beaujeau and his Indians face to face as they were 
marching along the path to the ford. 

Each side was surprised, and one was as much am- 
buscaded as the other." Their meeting was accidental, 
and the movement of the Indians which followed was 
also accidental, in the sense that it had not been 
planned beforehand. It was one of their regular 
methods when surprised, and it decided the fate of the 

1 5 S 



Braddock's Defeat 

day. The British regulars and the provincials, in a 
compact body and under perfect control, were driven 
like a wedge into the middle of their enemy. The 
Canadians instantly fled, and took no more part in the 
battle, and Beaujeau gave up all as lost. But the In- 
dians went off on each side, and in a few minutes every 
one of them was crouching behind a tree or log on 
the English flanks. 

Every school-boy knows the rest. On the English 
right there happened to be a rather steep hill ; and this 
was another piece of bad luck for Braddock, and prob- 
ably gave rise to the story that he was ambuscaded. 
The Indian riflemen swarmed on this hill ; but nothing; 
of them could be seen but puffs of smoke. Those same 
puffs of smoke came from every other quarter ; and the 
heroic English and provincials poured in volley after 
volley and tore the bark off the trees with artillery in 
vain. Braddock dashed up and down among his men, 
cursing and encouraging; and they replied to him that 
they would fight if he would show them the enemy. 
During the whole three hours they scarcely saw twenty 
Indians. Some of the regulars got behind trees and 
logs, but Braddock beat them away with the flat of his 
sword. Some of the Virginia provincials also secured 
a fallen tree and were fighting in Indian fashion, when 
the regulars, mistaking them for savages, fired from 
behind and killed and wounded nearly all of them. 
The confusion became so great that the English were 
constantly shooting each other, and it was at one time 
thought that Braddock himself met death in that way. 

Meanwhile the Indians, with rests for their rifles and 
security for their persons, enjoyed three hours of target 

*59 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 



practice, deliberately picking out officers and favorite 

victims, aiming man}' a shot at the general, until, after 
killing four horses under him, one o\ them sent a ball 
through his right arm and into his lungs. Of eight) -six 
officers, sixty-three were killed or disabled; and out oi 
the thirteen hundred men, only four hundred and fifty- 
nine escaped. The French lost only three or four; and 
the Indian loss, though not certainly known, was prob- 
ably not much over fifty killed and wounded. The 
Indians did the lighting. And the victor}- was theirs. 



160 



The Indians revenge themselves on Pennsylvania 



CHAPTER XI 

THE INDIANS REVENGE THEMSELVES ON 
PENNSYLVANIA 

Much of the abuse which has been so freely poured 
out on Braddock would be more deserved if it were 
applied to Dunbar, who had been left in command of 
the rear with a large part of the men and all the heavy 
baggage. He could have made a stand where he was, 
and protected the frontier from the Indians, and pos- 
sibly, with reinforcements, have retrieved the disaster 
at Fort Du Quesne. He was urged to do so, and 
promised assistance. But as soon as his flying and 
demoralized companions fell back upon him, he also 
took flight, burned his wagons, emptied his barrels of 
powder into the brooks, scattered his provisions through 
the woods, and began a hasty retreat to Fort Cumber- 
land. Arrived there, he turned the place into a hospi- 
tal. He was entreated to stay and hold his ground by 
Dinwiddie, the Governor of Virginia, and by Morris, 
the Governor of Pennsylvania. Even the Quaker 
Assembly urged it, and suggested to Morris the import- 
ance of taking any necessary steps that would insure 
Dunbar remaining to protect the frontier. But noth- 
ing would stop him, and as soon as he could he retreated 
to the peace and safety of Philadelphia. 

General Shirley, at one time Governor of Massachu- 
setts, was now, since Braddock' s death, in command of 

1 1 l6r 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

the American forces He was more interested in the 
part oi the wai that would protect Ne^ England and 
\ew York, and he wanted Dunbar* s troops to help 
him; and being thus justified, Dunbar could see no 
necess j for entering again the shadows ol those tei 
ests the AJleghenies 

rhis was a signal to the French, and from .ill s 
the} summoned the Indians, and, putting French 

cers among them, plunged them into the Pennsyl 
vania frontier, Delawares and Shawanese, the old 
treat} friends of Penn, Mingoes, renegades oi the 
Six Nat ions, Hurons, Pottawottamies, Ojibwas, and 
Ottawas from the west, -all rushed to reap the bar- 
est of scalps Pumas, now in command of Fort 
Du Quesne, boasted that he ha J massed his savages 
through a stretch of country thirty Leagues wide, ami 
completely ruined the border settlements of Pennsyl 
vania, Virginia, ami Maryland. The Indian villages, 
ho said, were full of prisoners, and "the enemy had 
lost more since the battle than on the day ot his 
defeat" 

Hie worst onsets oi the Indians occurred in Sop 
tember and October, The outermost settlements oi 
Pennsylvania at that time were few and fai between; 
usually a single wretched cabin oi logs, roofed with 
hark, fallen trees and stumps all round, ami within a 
hardy, uncouth family oi Scotch-Irish, A tow yards 
from the door began the interminable forest, and the 
nearest neighbor was possibly tour or five miles away, 
or perhaps ion or twenty, 

As the Indian parties made their way eastward, they 

usually disposed of little clearings Of this sort in a few 

r6a 



I he Indians revenge themselves Otl Pennsylvania 

minutes, 01 within an hour. No one knows how many 
oi these families perished hidden in the depths of the 
woods; nor can we now describe all the horrors, the 
agonies oi the women and children, and the di . 
brutality thai visited hundreds ol these homes unkno 
01 soon forgotten, Then a a sameness about every 
attack. The stealthy (talking from tree to tre< until 
the clearing was reached, the creeping from itump 
to stump, the sudden mot, and then that familial 
colonial scene, -the plough standing in the furrow, 
the horses loose and running, the fathei on his face, 
with his scalpless skull bleeding into the fresh ground, 
the mothei and children brained and scalped a1 the 
<\<)<>v <>\ the cabin, the cabin in Barnes, and the Indians 
disappearing in the shadows oi the distant wo< 

Sometimes a stray hunter, or a neighbor, who the 
itiously approached the spot, beheld a still 
more terrible sight- The Indians had disembowelled 
the father, and stuffed parts of his body into his mouth. 
The mother was laid out on the bed of the cabin 
Iped, and with one oi her scalped children placed 
under her head for a pillow, a stake was driven through 
her body into the bed, and there ometimes other 

disgusting mutilations which cannot be related. 

Similar had been more or less familiar in 

. England an< York for a hundred but 

they had never been known before in Pennsylvania. 
'J he people of the outer settlements usually had hunt- 
ing weapons, whir.}), however, were about as valuable 
as sticks against the sudden and stealthy approach of 
the Indians. But as the Indian partii ed into 

the more settled regions, where some of the clearii 

163 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

had become farms, they found a people totally unpre- 
pared, and many of them without arms of any kind. 
So profound and secure had been the seventy years of 
peace under the treaty of William Perm. 

A few months after the defeat oi Braddock the country 
round the present site of Harrisburg was ravaged, the 
.Moravian settlements near Bethlehem attacked, and 
the people of Gnadenhutten massacred, and their vil- 
lage burned. The enemy even went so far as to 
establish a headquarters for prisoners and plunder in 
Northampton County, not far from Bethlehem. In 
one place the Indians came upon a schoolhouse, killed 
and scalped the master and every one oi the chil- 
dren. Women and children seemed to be their special 
object; and, in some instances, they indulged them- 
selves in rape before using the knife and hatchet. 
The French officers, who were with them, are said to 
have had instructions to prevent cruelty and brutality, 
but they were powerless for that purpose; and the 
slaughter and torturing went on. Families were 
scalped within fifty miles of Philadelphia. The bodies 
of one murdered family were brought to the city, 
exhibited in the streets, and finally laid out before 
the State-house, in the hope of arousing either sym- 
pathy or vengeance in the peaceful Quaker breast. 

What were the Quakers and their Assembly doing? 
Much nonsense and abuse has been written about them ; 
and they have been described by certain brilliant writers 
as walking the quiet streets of Philadelphia, fat and 
well dressed, a placid smile beneath their broad- 
brimmed hats, safe from alarms and the scalping-knife, 
and indifferent to the sufferings of others. Their 

164 



The Indians revenge themselves on Pennsylvania 

religious belief has been decried as preventing at this 
time the protection of the frontier, and their quarrels 
with the governor as entirely unnecessary on their part, 
and, in fact, forced by them upon the governor as an 
excuse for not granting military supplies. 

But a careful examination of the records of the time 
shows that all this is a mistake. Pennsylvania behaved 
as well as, if not better than, the other colonies. Vir- 
ginia and Maryland were in the same condition, were 
invaded by the Indians, their border population slaugh 
tered, and the survivors driven in in herds upon the 
more settled districts. Virginia did nothing and could 
do nothing, although she had no people with conscien- 
tious scruples against war, and although her governor, 
Dinwiddie, was the most active of all the enthusiasts 
against the French. Washington was in command of 
about fifteen hundred Virginians, but he could make 
no move against the enemy. His men were turbulent 
and disorderly, and resented every kind of discipline 
as an infringement of their liberties. Indignant and 
in despair at the situation, he wrote to Dinwiddie that 
he was ready to resign and give up his commission, 
were it not for a stern sense of duty that kept him at 
his post. 

" The supplicating tears of the women and moving petitions 
of the men melt me into such deadly sorrow, that I solemnly 
declare, if T know my own mind, I could offer myself a willing 
sacrifice to the butchering enemy, provided that would con- 
tribute to the people's ease." 

The truth was that the whole population of Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland, and Virginia was in a state of panic 
and demoralization. livery day flying families of fron- 

.65 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

tiersmen were coming in by every road. At one gap 
in the Blue Ridge it was said to have boon difficult, at 
one time, for a person going westward to make his way 
against the crowd of fugitives. The withdrawal of 
Dunbar from the frontier, and the evident intention 
of the British regulars to leave the middle colonies to 
their fate, added to the alarm. It was impossible to 
do anything until the panic had subsided; And the 
Quaker Assembly of Pennsylvania did the best it could, 
and fully as mneh as the Assembly oi any other 
colony. 

They had no money in the Treasury to use, and they 
could not raise money by a new issue oi paper currency, 
because they had attempted that twice, and each time 
Governor Morris had rejected their bill by foolish 
excuses about his instructions. They were therefore 
driven to the necessity o( raising money for defence by 
a direct tax upon the people, and they passed a bill 
voting ,£50,000 to the king's use, to be raised by a tax 
oi twelve pence per pound ami twenty shillings per 
head for two years on all estates, real and personal, the 
estate of the proprietors not excepted. 

That the colony should be taxed to support the war, 
and that the largest landholders ami the richest people 
of the colony — the proprietors — should be exempt, 
was manifestly unfair. The money to be raised was 
to protect the property of tlie proprietors as much as 
the property of the humblest citizen. Indeed, it was 
more for the protection of the proprietors' property, 
which lay west of the Alleghenies, and was the land 
which the Indians and French were invading. The 
people of the province lived east of the mountains, 

166 



The Indians revenge themselves on Pennsylvania 

and most of them east of the Susquehanna; and it was 
hardly fair that they alone should pay for measures of 
defence that would enable the proprietors to sell their 
western lands and -row rich. The Assembly could 
have never again faced their constituents, and would 
have been a laughing-stock to all sensible men, if, in 
passing a law to raise money for defence by taxation, 
they had exempted the proprietary estate. 

The governor, of course, rejected the Assembly's bill 
because it taxed the proprietary estate. The tax on 
the estate was a trifle, —only about ,£500 a year; but 
the controversy was as long and bitter as if millions 
had been involved. New demands came in for supplies 
to assist expeditions against Canada and retrieve Brad- 
dock's defeat, and the Assembly and governor went on 
quarrelling. Unable to pass a. supply bill withoul 
jeopardizing their rights, the Assembly resorted to the 
plan of raising ,£10,000 by voluntary subscription, on 
the promise that the Assembly would reimburse the 
subscribers. 

Indeed, the war feeling among the Quakers and peace- 
loving Germans was becoming stronger and stronger. 
Petitions for arms and ammunition were pouring in 
from every part of the country. The mayor, with some 
of the principal citizens of Philadelphia, petitioned; 
and a large body of Germans, four hundred in number, 
marched to the city, unarmed and quietly, but with a 
rough bluntness that was quite persuasive, demanding 
protection. They first applied to the governor, who, 
of course, referred them to the Assembly, and then they 
visited the Assembly, crowding into their hall, and 
talking to the members, face to face. About three 

167 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

hundred Indians still remained faithful to the memory 
of Penn ; and these also added their supplications, 
declaring that if they were not protected they would, 
as a matter of mere self-preservation, be compelled to 
take sides with the French. When, in the midst of all 
this, some of the strictest Quakers presented to the 
Assembly petitions remonstrating against war, they 
counted for nothing. 

The great majority of the Quakers and the great 
majority of the Germans, together with a large part of 
the rest of the province, were not only in favor of 
defence, but also fully supported the Assembly in their 
contest with the governor on the principle that defence 
must not be obtained with the sacrifice of one jot of 
the province's liberties. The elections in the autumn 
of 1755, in the midst of all the Indian atrocities, show 
very clearly that the Assembly had been acting, both 
as regards defence and as regards the quarrels with the 
governor, in entire accord with the general sentiment 
of the people. 

Hoping that a compromise could be effected with 
the governor, the Assembly passed a bill granting 
,£60,000 to the king's use, redeemable in four years by 
a tax on the people and the proprietors, but providing 
that if the crown should afterward declare the pro- 
prietary estates exempt, the tax, if assessed, should not 
be levied, or if levied should be paid back. This was 
certainly a good deal of a compromise for the Assembly. 
The governor rejected it. It was too near what lie 
wanted, and gave no chance for a dispute; so he sug- 
gested that another bill be prepared for taxing the pro- 
prietary estates, by persons chosen both by himself and 

168 



The Indians revenge themselves on Pennsylvania 

the House, such bill not to go into operation until 
approved by the king. 

As this amendment would set a precedent for sus- 
pending the operation of a law until approved by the 
king, and was also an amendment of a money bill by 
the executive, the Assembly were obliged to reject it. 
But they were soon defeated in an unexpected way. 
A clamor had been raised in England against the pro- 
prietors for defeating, through their governor, the 
efforts of the Assembly to raise money for the war. 
They were compelled to do something, and, accord- 
ingly, sent over word that they would subscribe ,£5,000 
for the protection of the colony. Such extraordinary 
liberality took every one by surprise. The Assembly 
yielded, and the money bill was passed without taxing 
the proprietary estates. 

The gift, however, was not without some of the char- 
acteristic shrewdness of Thomas Penn. The whole 
.£5,000 was to be collected out of the arrears of quit- 
rents due the proprietors, and the payment of it was 
long delayed. So Mr. Penn was not much out of pocket 
by his beneficence, for he had saddled his bad debts 
on the province, and given himself a reputation for 
generosity at the same time. 

About this time Franklin prepared a militia law, 
which was passed in November, 1755, and was the 
first law of the kind the colony had ever had. A 
Quaker militia law is certainly an anomaly; and many 
would say that such a law was impossible, and could 
never have been passed in the Quaker Assembly 
of Pennsylvania. But passed it was, and without 
difficulty. More than a thousand men were recruited 

169 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

under it, and sent to shoot through port-holes at the 

Indians. 

rhe preamble of the law was rather long, drawn 
with greal care, largely made up oi sentences taken 
from previous Quaker utterances on war, ami was a fair 
statement of what was undoubtedly the general feeling 
of the majority oi the Quakers and Germans on that 
question. There has been so much hasty criticism on 
this point, and so main - sweeping statements of the 
Quaker belief and its effect on the defence o( the fron- 
tier, that it may he well to give some consideration to 
this preamble. 

It began by saying that the colony had been founded 
b) Quakers, and that the majority oi the Assembly hail 
always been oi that faith. They had no objection to 
others bearing arms, but were themselves principled 
against it. To compel them to bear arms wonld vio- 
late a fundamental part of the province's Constitution, 
and be a direct breach oi the Charter oi Privileges. It 
wonld be, in fact, a persecution. In like manner, it 
wonld be wrong for the Quakers to compel others to 
bear arms, and at the same time exempt themselves, 
Hut as by the general t (deration and equity of the 
Quaker laws great numbers of people hail come among 
them, oi various religions, under no restraint against 
bearing arms, but, on the contrary, thinking it their 
duty to fight for their country, families, and property, 
these, if they wished it, should be allowed to organize 
as soldiers. They had a right to their liberty of con- 
science, and as the Quaker Assembly represented all 
the people oi the province, it was bound to give them, 
if they asked it, the legal means for carrying out their 

170 



The Indians revenge themselves on Pennsylvania 

belief. If they wanted to fight, and thought it right 
to fight, they should not be in the least restrained from 
doing what they judged it their duty to do for their 
own security and the public good. Wherefore it would 
now be lawful for them to form themselves into com- 
panies under certain regulations which were given at 
length. 

It was to be altogether a volunteer system. But 
two years afterward, when the war feeling had grown 
stronger, the Quaker Assembly passed quite a stringent 
compulsory militia bill, which writers who complain 
that the Quakers would not protect the frontier are 
careful not to mention. They also fail to mention 
that the governor vetoed this bill; and the strict 
Quakers of modern times of course ignore the whole 
matter. 

The first law, prepared by Franklin, was, however, not 
altogether popular among the combatant portion of the 
people because it exempted from service those who had 
scruples of conscience. Many flatly refused to fight 
for the lives and property of men who were Loo foolish 
to fight for themselves; and Franklin had to write one 
of his best pamphlets and make unusual exertions to 
overcome this scruple, which stood in the way of the 
colony's defence. But he was very successful in this, 
as in his former attempt many years before, to raise 
soldiers, and soon not only had men, but was himself 
their commander. 

That the philosopher, electrician, and Assembly man 
should be selected as the leader of a provincial war- 
party against the Indians is a striking proof of the 
profound peace the colony had enjoyed ever since its 

'7' 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

foundation. The province, which was soon to become 
so remarkable for generals and military men, had not 
then a single one. Franklin was chosen because he 
seemed to know everything, and it was presumed that 
among other acquirements he might possess the art of 
war. As a matter of fact, he hated anything like con- 
tention and warfare; never used a gun even for amuse- 
ment, and never kept a weapon of any kind in his 
house. He was well aware of his own unfitness, and 
as he had declined to be a judge because of his igno- 
rance of law, so he tried to avoid this military office; 
but it was forced upon him. Indeed, it would have 
been difficult to have found any one in whom the men 
had so much confidence; and the expedition he con- 
ducted was about as successful as many others. 

He led about five hundred and forty men to Bethlehem 
and the Lehigh Valley, where the village of Gnaden- 
hutten had been burned, and its inhabitants massacred, 
in November. That part of the frontier was supposed 
to be in great danger; and the Moravians, like the 
Quakers, had suddenly discovered that they were not 
as much opposed to war as they supposed. They had 
obtained arms and ammunition from New York, sur- 
rounded themselves with a stockade, and collected 
stones in the windows of their houses for the women 
to use on hostile heads below. They had some years 
before obtained an Act of Parliament, exempting them 
from military service because of their conscientious 
scruples; and Franklin, in talking to their bishop, 
Spangenberg, expressed his surprise at the posture he 
found them in. The reply of the bishop shows that 
the war feeling had developed among them just as it 

172 






The Indians revenge themselves on Pennsylvania 

had among the Quakers. Aversion to war was, he 
said, not one of their established principles; but at 
the time of their obtaining the Act of Parliament, it 
was thought to be a principle with many of their 
people. On this occasion, however, they, to their 
surprise, found it adopted by but few. 

Franklin had arrived among them with his little 
army in December, and immediately began to build 
small forts to protect the valley. He probably checked 
the Indians during the two months of his stay. They 
were, however, all the time sitting on the hill-tops in 
the coldest weather, with their feet hanging down into 
holes, where they had built little charcoal fires. They 
watched every movement of his men and killed ten 
unfortunate farmers almost under his nose. 

Franklin returned to Philadelphia in February, a 
triumphant philosopher militant. It was, indeed, ex- 
traordinary that a man fifty-seven years old, known the 
world over for his discoveries and writings, should have 
been appointed to lead a backwoods foray, to sleep on 
the ground and in barns, to arrange the order of scout- 
ing parties, and regulate the serving of grog to his 
men; and still more extraordinary that he should have 
been somewhat successful. He seems to have fully 
understood the situation, and handled his men with a 
knowledge of woodcraft and Indian tactics that would 
have been of much value to many a British officer. So 
great was his popularity that he was made colonel of 
the twelve hundred men raised under his law ; and the 
governor wanted him to lead an expedition against Fort 
Du Quesne. 

All that winter and all the spring and summer of 

173 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

1756 the Indians continued, at intervals, their incur- 
sions. The winter after Franklin left the Lehigh 
Valley the fort he had built at Gnadenhutten was 
attacked while the garrison were out skating, the vil- 
lage again burned, and many of the people captured or 
killed. Indeed, the invasions of the Indians continued 
off and on for the next three years. Men were waylaid 
as they passed along the roads or trails, women killed 
as they went to visit the sick, children shot as they 
drove the cows home at evening, and many captives, 
of all ages and sexes, carried to Canada or to the 
wilderness of the Ohio. 

The colony's means for protecting itself was very 
slight. Accustomed to a long peace of seventy years, 
the people were not in the habit of organizing them- 
selves for such a serious military undertaking as the 
protection of two hundred miles of frontier. The few 
slight attempts they had made in the past had been 
directed to the protection of the river from privateers, 
and the troops raised in these few attempts never saw 
any actual service. 

The soldiery that the province might be supposed to 
have for its aid consisted of three classes, — the regu- 
lars, the provincials, and the rangers. The regulars 
had now been withdrawn to protect New England and 
New York. In the end they proved to be the only 
force that could permanently quiet the Indians, because 
they were the only force that could invade the Indian 
country and fight the savage on his own ground. The 
expedition they made in 1758, under General Forbes, 
checked the Indian atrocities for two years ; and when 
they broke out again at the time of Pontiac's con- 

'74 



The Indians revenge themselves on Pennsylvania 

spiracv, they were again stopped by the regulars under 
Bouquet. 

"The provincials " was a name given at that time to 
all colonial militia. In Pennsylvania they were often 
called the " Associators. " They were recruited by the 
governor without any Act of Assembly, under that 
clause in the Charter which gave Penn and his heirs 
the right to levy, muster, and train soldiers, and com- 
mand them with the powers of a captain-general. 
While Franklin's Quaker militia law lasted, they were 
recruited under it, and, in any event, were paid out of 
the colonial treasury, and subject to the orders of the 
governors. But they were merely an assistance to 
the regulars, and could not of themselves withstand the 
French and Indians. 

The rangers were not much better. They were 
merely volunteer bands of frontiersmen who chose their 
own officers, adopted their own rules, and would have 
laughed at any attempt of the governor to control them. 
Though accustomed to hunting, they knew little or 
nothing of Indian fighting, but they gradually learned 
it in the course of years. As the provincials wasted 
their energies by garrisoning forts instead of fighting 
the Indian on his own ground, so the ranger dissipated 
his strength by acting independently, and in small 
parties here and there. 

Besides the militia law, another attempt at defence 
was made in the beginning of 1756. A chain of forts 
was erected, at a cost of ^85,000, all along the fron- 
tier, beginning at the Delaware River, near Easton, 
extending westward to the forks of the Susquehanna, 
where Fort Augusta stood, near the present site of 

*75 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Sunbury, and thence, in a southwest direction, to the 
present Fulton County, on the Maryland boundary. 
The distance was in all about two hundred miles. This 
was, however, only the general line of the frontier; for 
the forts were so scattered and irregularly placed that, 
in reality, the line of defence was a great deal more 
than two hundred miles. 

The forts were at first about seventeen in number, 
placed near the principal passes. Beginning at the 
Delaware, near Easton, there were Depui's, Lehigh, 
Allen, Everit, Williams, Henry, Swatara, Hunter, 
Halifax, and Augusta, which completed the line to the 
Susquehanna. West of the Susquehanna there were 
Louther, Morris, Franklin, Granville, Shirley, Little- 
ton, and Loudon, which brought the line to the Mary- 
land boundary. Others were added from time to time 
until, within a few years, there were about fifty. The 
larger ones were each garrisoned by about fifty or 
seventy-five men, who could merely defend their stock- 
ade and make no expeditions outside of it. Many of 
the worst Indian atrocities were committed forty or fifty 
miles within the line. In Indian warfare, forts were 
valuable chiefly as places of refuge for settlers and 
their families, in case of an attack on their homes or 
as starting-points for scouting-parties and expeditions. 
But forts had no effect in really subduing the savages or 
in securing the continued safety of the settlers, because 
the Indians simply walked by or around them, and en- 
tered the district within pretty much as they pleased. 

The best method of colonial Indian warfare was that 
adopted by Bacon, in Virginia, in the previous century, 
and by Major Rogers and his rangers, in New Hanrp- 

176 



The Indians revenge themselves on Pennsylvania 

shire; namely, to be continually beating up the Indian 
hiding-places, cutting off their stragglers, attacking 
them on their own ground, and driving them from point 
to point, so as to prevent the maturing of plans, and 
that most fatal of all Indian tactics, the gradual creep- 
ing through the grass, and from tree to tree, until a 
village or farm was surrounded. Little or nothing of 
this sort could at first be done in Pennsylvania, because 
such work required a large and regularly organized 
force, which would scout and range the woods every 
week and month of the year, over the whole vast range 
of frontier. 

The forts, however, had to be built, and were the 
first steps in a system of defence. But their chief 
value was as starting-points for more aggressive meas- 
ures, and the failure to institute these aggressive 
measures was the weak point in the province's method 
of warfare. From the time of Braddock's defeat, in 
the summer of 1755, until the following summer of 
1756, everything was weakly defensive. There were 
no attacks upon the Indians; and on one occasion, in 
April, 1756, when some of the people met them at 
Sideling Hill, the white men were badly defeated, and 
in the following July the Indians stormed and captured 
Fort Granville. 

A large party of the soldiery of Pennsylvania, which 
might have been something of a guard to her frontier, 
were drawn away to protect the frontiers of New 
England and New York, and carry the invasion into 
Canada. Early in 1756 a meeting of the colonial 
governors decided that ten thousand men were needed 
for an expedition against Niagara as well as Ticonde- 
12 177 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

roga, down Point, and other places. Pennsylvania's 
quota for this was fifteen hundred men. Hie province 
had already sent a great number of recruits to these 
northern expeditions, — in fact, rather more than her 
share; for although a Quaker community, troops were 

easily raised, because there was in the province a great 
number of redemptioners, or indented servants, as they 
were called, and these were always -Lid to join an 
army and escape their servitude. Their masters, oi 
course, suffered by their absence, ami their claims tor 
payment tor this loss were continually troubling the 
Assembly. 

Whatever we may think of the insufficiency of the 
fort system, we must give the Assembly credit tor hav- 
ing accomplished a great deal in the way oi defence in 
spite oi their governor, and in spite oi the large numbers 
of men and the large sums of money they were send 
ing to protect New England, The chain of forts was 
built and garrisoned; and Governor Morris thought so 
well of it that he said it was amply sufficient to defend 
the province, ami that the Assembly should devote 
their energies to the northern campaign against Canada 
The Assembly declared that their frontier was in a 
better state oi dcicncc than that of any other colony on 
the continent. It certainly seems to have been at least 
as well protected as the frontiers of Maryland and 
Virginia; for the governors of those two provinces, in 
the spring of 1756, applied to Pennsylvania for assist- 
ance, complaining bitterly of their defenceless condi- 
tion with the enemy pressing in upon them as far as 
Winchester. 1 

1 Franklin's Historical Review, J34; Votes of Assembly, iv. 560, 561, 

17S 



The Indians revenue themselves on Pennsylvania 

Instead of being backward in the war, as Parkman 
and other writers have insisted, Pennsylvania was 
fighting her own battles and those of the other colonies 
as well. Parkman's violent prejudice against every 
colony outside of New England leads him into the 
most absurd abuse of Pennsylvania. Whenever the 
Assembly will not instantly yield to the demands oi 
the governor, he calls it petty and stupid. The pre- 
servation of local rights he entirely ignores; and he 
seems never to have read the records of Pennsylvania 
on this question, or, if he read, was unable to under- 
stand them. 

The contemporary opinion of those times is very 
complimentary to the efforts of Pennsylvania. Brad- 
dock fully appreciated them; and when Braddock gave 
praise and refrained from abuse, we may be sure that 
the praise was deserved. He wrote to Franklin that 
Pennsylvania had done more for him than any of the 
other colonies; that Virginia and Maryland promised 
everything and performed nothing, while Pennsylvania 
promised nothing and performed everything. 1 Com- 
modore Spry, writing in August, 175^, thanks the 
Assembly for the large number of sailors sent to his 
fleet at the province's expense, and says, " 'T is impos- 
sible to conceive how much I am obliged." 2 

General Shirley, before he departed for Europe, sent 
a letter to the Pennsylvania Assembly, thanking them 
for their valuable services toward his expeditions on 
two occasions; and the Assembly voted him a reply, in 
which they thanked him for his justice, which they 

1 I'ennsylvania Magazine of History, xvii. 272. 

2 Franklin's Historical Review, 380; Votes of Assembly, iv. 612. 

179 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

said they had frequently sought in vain in others, from 
whom they had a right to expect it. It seems to have 
been a common opinion, and certainly was the opinion 
of the Assembly, that the province had afforded more 
free recruits to the king's forces than any other colony. 
Men had been raised for Shirley's and Pepperell's regi- 
ments, for Halket's and Dunbar's, for the New York 
and Carolina Independent Companies, for Nova Scotia, 
and even for the West Indies. 1 

In the appendix to his "Historical Review of Penn- 
sylvania," Franklin has given us an itemized statement 
of the money expended on the war by Pennsylvania, 
from 1754 to 1758, and the sum total is .£327,851 cur- 
rency, or ,£218,567 sterling, certainly a handsome con- 
tribution from a Quaker Assembly, representing a 
population of only about two hundred thousand souls. 

It should also be remembered that the Assembly 
could not, as a legislative body, carry on the war. 
They could only vote money and supplies, and pass 
general laws. For executing their laws and the con- 
duct of campaigns, they were obliged to rely on the 
governor; and in 1757 we find the Assembly upbraid- 
ing the governor because, although they had furnished 
him with money, he was not pushing offensive opera- 
tions, and was allowing the men to remain idle in the 
forts when they might have been invading the country 
of the enemy. 

Before he closed his administration in the summer 
of 1756, Governor Morris gave the Assembly another 
check, which was not likely to assist campaigns. He 
showed his hand, or rather the hand of the proprietors 

1 Franklin's Historical Review, 322. 
180 



The Indians revenge themselves on Pennsylvania 

and the Privy Council, who were supporting him in his 
attempts on the liberties of the province. The excise 
on liquors which had been imposed for ten years was 
about to expire ; but when a bill for its renewal was 
sent to the governor, he refused to accept it unless 
there was an amendment giving him the joint power 
with the Assembly in disposing of the proceeds. He 
frankly told the Assembly that he had an instruction 
forbidding him to assent to any law raising money, 
unless he or the proprietors could have a hand in 
disbursing it. 

This was what every one had long suspected, and 
now the secret was out. This instruction had been the 
real cause of all the quarrels with the Assembly, all the 
opposition to money bills to assist the war, and all 
the excuses and shifting of years. To gradually worry 
the Assembly into a precedent for giving the proprietor 
power over their money after they had raised it had 
been the prime object ; and with a governor bound by 
a penal bond, under such an instruction, the province 
could not be protected, or the king served, or any in- 
terest of the community maintained, unless the people 
were willing to part with the rights and liberties they 
had spent nearly a century in establishing. 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 



CHAPTER XII 

THE INDIANS CHECKED 

As the year 1756 moved on, efforts were made to do 
something more decisive against the enemy than look 
at them through the port-holes of forts. Among the 
first to move were the Quakers, who seized the oppor- 
tunity of a situation of affairs which seemed to incline 
the Delawares and Shawanese to make a treaty of peace. 

These two tribes had been alienated and turned 
into terrible enemies by no fault of the Quakers or 
the Assembly, but by the iniquity of the proprietors' 
Walking Purchase, the Albany Deed of 1754, and the 
gradual invasion of their lands by the frontiersman. 
They had joined the western tribes, and, by their 
knowledge of localities in Pennsylvania, were acting 
as guides, and assisting the French in the most effec- 
tive manner. If they could be drawn away from the 
French and other Indians, the result would be as good 
as a decisive battle. The governor had hesitated to 
declare war against them because it was hoped that the 
Six Nations might still have some control over them. 
The Quakers upheld him in this, and urged him, to 
the last moment, to withhold the declaration. But it 
was finally made, and war formally declared, in April, 
1756, against the two tribes, and rewards offered to 
the few Indians that remained friendly for scalps and 

182 



The Indians Checked 

prisoners. The effect of this offer was that any pris- 
oners that were taken were immediately killed, for the 
prisoner was worth no more than his scalp, and the 
scalp was easier to transport. Little was accomplished, 
however, for most of the friendly Indians took alarm, 
and moved away to join the Six Nations. 

The Six Nations had already been asked to use their 
influence to restrain the Delawares and the Shawanese. 
When they started on this undertaking they were ably 
assisted by the Quakers, some of whom had the princi- 
pal Delaware chiefs to dine with them in Philadelphia, 
treating them as equals and friends, and with the 
assistance of Weiser, the interpreter, urging them to 
assist in procuring peace. The governor and the 
Assembly left the whole matter in the hands of the 
Six Nations and the Quakers, and very soon they had 
accomplished their purpose. The Delawares and the 
Shawanese agreed to refrain from further hostilities; 
the governor, by proclamation, suspended the war 
against them, and the peace was confirmed by a treaty 
held at Easton during the last days of July, 1756. 

This successful effort on the part of the Quakers has 
been often sneered at as mere weakness and an excuse 
for avoiding actual hostilities, but in the condition of 
the colonies at that time it was by far the best thing 
that could be done, and, combined with the military 
operations that followed, was of decided assistance in 
checking the French invasions. The colony was doing 
all it could in a hostile way. It was sending men and 
money to protect New England and New York, and 
with the men and means that were left was attempting 
to protect its own frontier. There was money in the 

183 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

treasury to pay the troops; and troops were constantly 
moving to the frontier to garrison the forts, and yet, 
with all this, the frontier was so large and wild that 
little was accomplished. To draw away, therefore, 
from the French interest the two tribes that were 
most bitter and earnest in revenging themselves on 
the province, and who were acting as guides to the 
others, was, whatever may have been the motives for 
it, a decided benefit, even from the point of view of 
those who advocated war. 

While the treaty that accomplished this result was 
nearing its final confirmation in July, 1756, plans were 
laid for an expedition of provincial troops, which 
should be actively hostile, and change the defensive 
policy of hiding in forts. The principal strongholds 
of the Indians in Pennsylvania were Logstown, on the 
Ohio, a few miles below Fort Du Quesne, and Kittan- 
ning, or Atique, as the French called it, about forty 
miles to the northeast, on the Allegheny. At these 
places they stored their plunder and kept their pris- 
oners, and at Kittanning they received supplies of arms 
and ammunition for their expeditions. Kittanning 
seems also to have been the principal residence of the 
famous chief, Captain Jacobs, and at times of Shingas. 
It was a convenient place for forays. It was further 
east than Fort Du Quesne and nearer to the English 
settlements. The valley of the Kiskiminetas River, 
or the ridge that lay north of it, could be followed up 
to the head -waters of that stream, whence the distance 
across the mountains to the head-waters of the Juniata 
was not far, and the Juniata Valley was a natural high- 
way to the Susquehanna. 

184 



The Indians Checked 

It was decided to attack this village of Kittanning 
and wipe it out ; and the man selected for the purpose 
was Col. John Armstrong, a Scotch-Irishman of Car- 
lisle, — the first real soldier the province had produced, 
and the beginning of the long line of Pennsylvania's 
distinguished generals. 

By the middle of August Armstrong had begun his 
preparations, and soon collected his force of about three 
hundred men on the Juniata, at Fort Shirley, which 
was well on the way to his destination. The whole 
expedition had been kept a profound secret, and was 
exceedingly well managed in all its details. The men 
were collected in a way that excited no surprise, and 
were probably supposed, by most people, to be intended 
for the usual garrison duty in the forts. An advance 
party was sent out from Fort Shirley, and Armstrong 
followed them, with the main body, on the 30th of 
August. They were lucky enough to make their entire 
march unobserved. The advance guard came upon the 
tracks of two Indians, and found where they had killed 
a bear; but the tracks were twenty-four hours old, and 
the Indians gone on ahead. If the guard had marched 
a day earlier they might have been discovered by these 
Indians, and the whole expedition frustrated. 

Cheered by his good fortune, Armstrong pressed on, 
and in five days was within fifty miles of Kittanning. 
He sent a party to reconnoitre the town, and on the 
evening of the ;th of September had his force within 
six miles of it. He intended to dispose his men round 
the town in the moonlight and attack at daybreak. But 
about nine or ten o'clock in the evening his guides told 
him that there was a fire by the roadside, just ahead, 

185 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

and two or three Indians sitting around it. He 
scarcely knew what to do. It was too much risk to 
attempt to cut off these Indians, for if a single one of 
them escaped it would be fatal, and, luckily, he did 
not attempt it. Leaving a party to watch, with orders 
to attack them at daybreak, he took a circuitous course 
with the rest of his men, and reached the cornfield on 
the edge of the village. 

It was a warm summer night. The Indians were 
dancing, beating their drums, and whooping. They 
were in the full enjoyment of savage happiness, — 
plenty of ammunition; plenty of provisions, hunting 
excursions, and excursions for scalps; and this had 
now continued for nearly two years. They had re- 
ceived powder and ball enough from the French to 
last them ten years, and during that time they could 
carry on the war as they pleased against the whites, 
who would never dare to cross the mountains. As 
they grew tired of the dance, some retired to their 
houses, and others lighted fires in the cornfield to 
drive away the gnats, while they were composing 
themselves to sleep beneath the stars. One young 
buck whistled for his squaw within a few yards of 
Armstrong, and fired off his gun and cleaned it before 
lying down. For hours the provincials lay crouched 
upon the ground among the corn, listening to these 
strange sounds. But fatigue soon overcame the nov- 
elty of their situation, and when Armstrong thought 
it time for the attack he found most of his men 
asleep. 

Just at daybreak he aroused them ; and having given 
one division twenty minutes to get near the main part 

1 86 



% 

The Indians Checked 

of the town, he began the attack in the cornfield. 
Almost at the first gun Captain Jacobs gave the war- 
whoop, and cried out that the white men had come, 
and there would be scalps enough. But his defence 
was weak. His forces were scattered and soon driven 
from the cornfield to make a last stand in the houses. 
Jacobs' house was able to return a hot fire, and a ball 
from it wounded Armstrong in the shoulder. The 
sharp-shooting of the Indians was severe, and they seem 
to have killed and wounded enough of the white men 
to fully equal their own losses. But the houses were 
set on fire, Captain Jacobs was shot, and tumbled to 
the ground in attempting to escape from his attic win- 
dow, and soon after his house blew up. As the flames 
spread among the thirty houses, the loaded guns stored 
in them exploded; and as the fire reached barrel after 
barrel of powder, the blazing timbers were sent flying 
in the air. The enemy soon took refuge in the woods, 
and the victory was complete. 

No attempt was made to follow them, nor would it 
have been safe; and now that their work was done, the 
provincials were anxious to escape. They were farther 
within the lion's mouth than they liked. They would 
not even wait to destroy the cornfield. It shows what 
terror the Indian skill at bushwhacking inspired, that 
these men, who had boldly penetrated into the heart 
of the enemy's country and destroyed a town, were in 
almost as much of a panic as Braddock's men had felt 
to get back by the road they had come. By a lucky 
surprise they had succeeded in scattering the Indians 
for a few hours, and they needed all of those hours to 
get a start on their return. 

187 



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ShirU i . \ 

• i i 

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- "-.•.' -. d the 

. . - i 

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- ■ ■ -. le \vb 

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h 
- . . • sen v 

nineteen misshi un 

" : § were vei j ■ 

for s 

most opportune. 1 were soon ie 

' . s k s « ho '• • been di i\ en 

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But Dumas, . Foi I Du 

esne ■ . . . , 

\ had been attacked 

Wachinton, with three 01 foui hundred men 
188 



If:' 
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d and routed tiu m 1 

. bad al 






Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 



CHAPTER XIII 

THE VIOLENCE OF PARTY SPIRIT 

The plans for Armstrong's expedition had been laid 
during Morris' administration, and that evil governor 
may perhaps deserve some credit for them. But he 
retired from office before they were carried out, and 
they were turned over to his successor, William Denny, 
on his arrival in the province, August 20, 1756. Morris 
had been governor a little less than two years, and in 
that short time had given more trouble than any other 
deputy that had been appointed. The change to Denny 
was, however, as Franklin said, only a change of devils; 
and, indeed, it was difficult for a governor to be any- 
thing but a devil, tied down, as he was, by his bond 
and the instructions of the proprietors. 

But still the people and the Assembly hoped for 
better things, and were willing to believe that Denny 
would be very different from his predecessor. They 
gave him every encouragement. The city corporation 
gave him a grand public entertainment; and the 
Assembly gave him a fete at the State-house. He 
was petted and congratulated; and to show that they 
were sincere, he was given .£600 to soften his heart. 

The money and the fete were wasted. To save time, 
and in the hope of a frank understanding from the 
beginning, the Assembly immediately asked him to 

190 



The Violence of Party Spirit 

show them his instructions. This he did without the 
slightest hesitation, for the proprietors had now given 
up all secrecy, and were determined openly to force 
the Assembly to their purpose. The instructions con- 
tained just what might have been expected. The 
governor was forbidden to assent to any money bill 
unless the money to be raised was specially appropri- 
ated to some particular object, or was to be at the 
disposal of the governor and Assembly jointly. In this 
way the proprietors hoped to breakdown the Assembly's 
privilege of exclusive control of money bills. Other 
parts of the instructions attempted to exempt the pro- 
prietary lands from taxation, and to have the quit-rents 
paid in sterling instead of Pennsylvania currency. 

The attack of the proprietors on the province was 
well timed, for the English forces had been everywhere 
defeated by the French, and except for the slight relief 
Pennsylvania and Virginia had received from the battle 
of Kittanning, the prospects were very gloomy. The 
Assembly dared not remain inactive ; and after passing 
resolutions protesting against the attempts of the pro- 
prietors, and repeating the old arguments against their 
tyranny, they resolved that if they adhered to their 
rights the province would be abandoned to the enemy 
and lost to the crown. They resolved to waive their 
rights for the present, in the hope that they might 
regain them again in the future, and for this they 
trusted to the justice of the king and the British 
Parliament. They passed a bill for ,£30,000 to be 
redeemed from the excise in ten years, the balance of 
which, after paying certain debts, was to be applied 
jointly by the governor and the House. The governor 

191 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

signed this Act, and the proprietors, for the time, had 
triumphed. 

The Assembly were to suffer another mortification 
and defeat. The proprietary party in the colony was 
comparatively small, and scarcely represented at all in 
the Assembly, but capable of making much trouble by 
writing letters to England and appealing to the Privy 
Council. This party was composed, largely, of the 
Church of England people, who were in control of the 
college; and the college's provost, young William 
Smith, became the party leader. Petitions had been 
sent to the king representing the province in a defence- 
less state because of the Quaker government, and call- 
ing on the king to interpose and take the government 
from the Quakers. Smith also wrote two letters, after- 
ward published as pamphlets, which aroused great in- 
dignation among the Quakers. 

He was then only twenty-nine years old, an able and 
brilliant writer, but disposed to violent and exaggerated 
statements. In his first letter or pamphlet he declared 
that the French occupation of the Ohio, Braddock's 
defeat, and all the Indian massacres were entirely due 
to the Quakers, and would not have happened if other 
people had been in charge of the government. The 
Germans, he said, were just as bad, and had supported 
the Quakers. The Quaker Assembly had entirely too 
much power; its rights should be abridged, and the 
governor given more control of it. 

In his second pamphlet he made sport of the Quaker 
religious meetings, calling them political cabals, and 
gave currency to the assertion that some Quaker mem- 
ber of the Assembly had said that the Indians had 

192 



The Violence of Party Spirit 

killed only a few Scotch-Irish, who could well enough 
be spared. He insinuated that the Quakers had some 
secret agreement or understanding with the Indians. 
The Quaker religion, he said, being a false one, was 
at the root of all the evil, and should be extirpated 
from the face of the earth. He even went so far as to 
say that there were several ways of getting rid of the 
Quakers, — one, by driving them from their control of 
the Assembly, and the other, by cutting their throats. 
This reckless attack on the liberties of the colony, 
by a man who was living among them, and who pro- 
fessed to be conducting the chief seat of learning in 
the province, was rather more than could be endured. 
The Assembly voted Smith's letters libellous, and 
ordered his arrest. He is said to have been brought 
before them, and questioned, but allowed, on this occa- 
sion, to go unpunished. But his pamphlets and the peti- 
tion to the king soon had an effect. The Privy Council 
appointed a day to hear all parties. The petitioners 
were represented by their counsel, and the Assembly 
by theirs. The result was altogether against the 
Assembly. The committee of the Privy Council, after 
condemning the conduct of the province during the 
war, concluded by saying that the province would never 
be protected, and there was no hope for measures of a 
different character while the country was ruled by a 
sect numbering scarcely a sixth part of all the inhabi- 
tants, with principles avowedly against military ser- 
vice. Such people should not be allowed to hold 
offices of trust and profit, or to sit in a legislative body 
without their allegiance being secured by the sanction 
of an oath. 

i93 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Beyond the indignation and anger aroused by this 
successful appeal of the proprietary party, it had no 
effect on the province except to bring about the resig- 
nation from the Assembly of four Quakers, — Mahlon 
Kirkbride, William Hoge, Peter Dicks, and Nathaniel 
Pennock, — and to induce the Assembly to pass a stricter 
militia law. A few months before, five other Quaker 
members, finding they had to vote too often for war, 
had resigned. But the places of all these were quickly 
filled, and apparently by Quakers, who found no diffi- 
culty in serving. 

Some of the modern Quaker writers insist that their 
people took no active part in the French and Indian 
Wars ; and that the withdrawal of their society from 
political power in Pennsylvania dates from the begin- 
ning of the Seven Years' War. For seventy years, 
they say, while under their control, the province enjoyed 
perfect peace and was without guns or forts. Peace 
only failed when they lost control, and were in the 
decided minority. Others, knowing that such a state- 
ment is untrue, insist that those who composed the 
majority of the legislature during the war were not 
true Quakers; and Bowden, in his "History of the 
Friends in America" (vol. ii. p. 281), says, "But few 
of our members of any religious standing ever after 
formed part of the local legislature of Pennsylvania." 

Even this cautious statement admits that there were 
some Quakers of religious standing still in the legis- 
lature. Of course the very strict Quakers who still 
held to the letter of their opposition to war, thought 
that all the others were not in good standing. But 
those others, who steadily voted for war supplies, had 

194 



The Violence of Party Spirit 

all the characteristics of Quakers, considered them- 
selves such, and were so regarded. There is no ques- 
tion that at that time a large part of the society, having 
been long accustomed to political power, and having 
become prosperous and rich, had acquired a strong 
tincture of the world, and the more strict members 
were utterly unable to restrain them. 

The compulsory militia law seems to have been 
passed by the Quaker Assembly with the full intention 
of showing the British government that they were ready 
to do everything in their power to assist the war against 
France. But even if it had not been vetoed by the 
governor, and had gone into operation, matters would 
have been very little improved, for the trouble was not 
so much in getting soldiers as in getting arms and 
ammunition. About fourteen hundred men, costing 
the province over ,£64,000 a year, were distributed 
among the forts; and though in the beginning they had 
had good muskets, most of them were now out of order, 
and there were no means of repairing them or getting 
others. In Conrad Weiser's battalion more than three- 
quarters of the guns were more or less out of repair. 
Flints were scarce and inferior, and the supply of 
ammunition for the few cannon in the forts very limited. 
The Assembly had attempted to procure a supply of 
arms from England, but here, again, they were checked, 
for the home government was itself limited, and none 
could be procured. But the proprietors, be it said to 
their credit, came to the assistance of the colony, and 
sent over a few brass cannon and a small supply of 
fusees and muskets. 

The year 1757 was a very gloomy one, not only in 

195 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

the colonies, but in England, and was well described by 
Lord Chesterfield when he said, " I never saw so dread- 
ful a time." Nothing was wanting but a few more 
soldiers to enable the French to pass on down the 
Mississippi and secure their line to New Orleans, or 
fall upon the rear of the colonies and conquer them. 
The Indians were becoming more and more convinced 
that the French were the greater nation, and that they 
had done right in joining them. The Pennsylvania 
Assembly felt compelled to vote ,£100,000, the largest 
single grant they had ever made. It was to be raised 
by a general tax, and the tax was made to include 
the proprietary estate. The governor objected ; and the 
Assembly, influenced by the awful necessities of the 
war and the persuasions of Lord Loudon, yielded, and 
passed the bill in February, 1757, without taxing the 
estates. 

But though they yielded on this point, they were 
determined to carry on the conflict in another way, and 
transfer the scene of it to England. There they could 
attack the proprietors directly and appeal to the jus- 
tice of the king and Parliament. They appointed two 
commissioners to go to England for this purpose, — 
Norris and Franklin, — and Norris being detained by 
ill health, Franklin started alone. 

The good effects of the battle of Kittanning had 
now worn away. They had lasted only about six 
months; and, though the Quaker treaty still kept the 
Delawares and Shawanese friendly, the western tribes 
were unrestrained, and their ravages on the frontiers 
of Pennsylvania again began. 

There were no notable massacres, but the old stealthy 

196 



The Violence of Party Spirit 

creeping methods were again adopted, — the red men 
passing in between the forts, which were not of the 
slightest protection. All through the spring and sum- 
mer of 1757 small scalping-parties ranged the woods, 
and appeared suddenly at clearings and farms. The 
people were now better armed, and had begun to learn 
something of Indian fighting. As they tilled their 
fields, parties of soldiers from the garrison of the 
nearest fort came out and guarded them ; and when no 
soldiers could be obtained, they lashed a musket to 
their plough, and were guarded by their stalwart sons 
or neighbors. Occasionally an Indian was killed, and 
occasionally some settlers maintained their ground, 
fighting, Indian fashion, from behind logs and trees. 
There was a decided improvement in the methods of 
resistance; for the people were now aroused from their 
long sleep of peace. Instead of keeping close to their 
forts, some of the garrisons now sent detachments to 
range the woods and break up the Indian hiding- 
places; and ranging parties were formed among the 
farmers and frontiersmen. 

But the Indians had much the best of it. They 
boasted that for every loss among their own number 
there were at least ten white scalps hanging in smoky 
wigwams. They did more killing, for they were 
always at it. They picked off the people as they moved 
about, shooting a woman here as she went to a neigh- 
bor's, a child there as he wandered a few steps too far 
from the cabin, a man as he worked in the field and 
unconsciously came too near the fringe of the forest. 
They attacked houses in the night ; and the terror they 
inspired, and the poverty and suffering they brought 

197 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

upon the people, who were driven from their homes, 
were even worse than their murders. 

The petitions, coming from all parts of the country 
at that time, and still to be found among the " Archives " 
and " Records," are extremely interesting, and tell the 
story with considerable vividness. Some of them are 
signed with the English names of Presbyterians, and 
others with the unpronounceable names of the Pennsyl- 
vania Dutch. They all have the same burden : a raid, 
murders, scalps ; send us assistance. Among them are 
also to be found the reports of the provincial officers, 
also very much alike : an attack, well resisted, several 
of us killed and wounded, one Indian killed; followed 
the trail for a short distance next morning, and found 
moccasin tracks, with the narrow-toed shoe-marks of a 
Frenchman. 

The Indians came in closer that year than ever before, 
even to within thirty miles of Philadelphia; for the 
outermost settlers, on whom they had previously 
preyed, were mostly driven in, and were living in the 
poor houses, or as best they could in the more settled 
parts of the province. The boundaries of Pennsylvania 
were evidently contracting; and if the French war con- 
tinued much longer, the people would be all crowded 
against the Delaware and conquered. 

As the success of the French became more and more 
evident, and the gloom and despondency of the colonists 
deeper and deeper, in this year, 1757, the proprietary 
party and the Churchmen renewed their attacks on the 
Quakers and the Assembly, which they charged with 
all the disasters. The Assembly, goaded by every 
kind of taunt, were in a state of high irritation. They 

198 



The Violence of Party Spirit 

longed for an opportunity to revenge themselves, and 
it soon came. 

There was a Churchman and member of the pro- 
prietary party who at this time began to make himself 
very obnoxious. This was "William Moore, Esq., of 
Moore Hall," as he called himself. He was Judge 
of the Common Pleas of Chester County, and had 
a pleasant little country-seat near the banks of the 
Schuylkill. He lies buried under the doorway of 
St. David's Church at Radnor, where a marble slab 
recounts the long list of his offices and virtues. He 
was a bold, outspoken man, a great Churchman, with a 
deep contempt for the Quakers, and a desire to live the 
life of an English magistrate and country gentleman 
who scolded everybody and had everything his own 
way. He had for some time given much offence 
by his open abuse of the Quakers on the subject of 
warfare, and soon he was accused of other offences. 
Numerous petitions were presented to the Assembly, 
charging him with gross misconduct and injustice 
in his office of judge; and the Assembly saw their 
chance. 

In August, 1757, they sent him a copy of the charges 
against him, and called him before them to answer for 
his misdeeds. He refused to appear, and denied their 
authority to try him. They investigated the charges 
against him, and sent a memorial to the governor ask- 
ing that he be removed from his office of judge. The 
memorial was printed in the newspapers, and Moore 
replied to it in language which certainly did not soothe 
the Assembly. Both the memorial and Moore's reply 
to it were published in the " Pennsylvania Gazette;" 

199 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

and Provost Smith, wishing the Germans to see Moore's 
reply, had it published in a German newspaper which 
he and some others were conducting. This act of 
Smith's seems like a trivial offence, but the Germans 
were the main support of the Quakers in politics, and 
kept them in power. The Assembly had an old grudge 
against Smith, and when they met in January, 1758, 
had both him and Moore arrested for libel. 

Moore defended himself with much ability, refused 
to be tried, and was sentenced to the common jail for 
contempt, misconduct as a judge, and publishing a 
libel on the Assembly; and the sheriff was ordered to 
pay no attention to any writs of habeas corpus that 
should be issued for his relief. 

Smith was then brought before the House for trial, 
and his strong personality and ability soon made an 
interesting scene. He was accused of aiding in the 
publication of the libel by Moore. He denied his 
guilt. The address by Moore, if a libel at all, had 
been written against a former house, which was not 
now in being. But the address, he said, was not at all 
libellous, for every subject had the right to arraign the 
conduct of officers when they swerved from their duty. 
The meanest plebeian in Rome could impeach a con- 
sul ; and the best check which the British nation had 
imposed upon those clothed with power was the right 
of citizens freely to animadvert upon their conduct. If 
the Assembly could go so far as to call a man to account 
for what he had said about a house lately dissolved, 
they might, by the same rule, call him to account for 
censuring a house that had been in being a century 
ago, and by this means tie up the tongues and pens of 



The Violence of Party Spirit 

men forever, sanctify the most iniquitous measures, 
and make it impossible even to write the history of 
former times. 

He felt, he said, that he was standing for the liberty 
of the press ; that if he had done anything, it was as the 
editor of a newspaper in which he had been exercising 
his best judgment. But other papers had printed the 
address ; and it had been printed by the Assembly's own 
printer by the advice of several members of the House. 
Moreover, he said, the Assembly had no right to try 
him, because they were his accusers, and unfit to be 
his judges. 

Having allowed Smith to withdraw for a time, the 
House called him in again, and told him that they 
would hear no arguments calling in question their juris- 
diction to try him, and that they had appointed the 
Tuesday following to begin his trial, and that he might 
have the assistance of counsel. When the day arrived, 
Smith found that the Assembly had completely headed 
off any defence he might make. They would hear no 
arguments questioning their jurisdiction, and none 
denying that Moore's address was a libel. The trial 
was a farce. A resolution was passed, finding him 
guilty; and the Speaker informed him that he was to 
be committed to the county jail until he should make 
satisfaction to the House. 

Smith then arose, and, after announcing that he would 
appeal to the king, declared, with much indignation, 
that there had been no evidence sufficient to convict 
him, that others equally culpable had been allowed to 
escape while he had been singled out as the special 
object of vengeance. Then drawing himself to his full 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

height, and striking his breast with his hand, he said, 
with great vehemence and dignity: — 

" Mr. Speaker, I cannot make acknowledgments or express 
contrition. No punishment which this Assembly can inflict 
upon me would be half as terrible to me, as suffering my 
tongue to give my heart the lie." 

The House was crowded with Smith's friends and 
members of the proprietary party, who were delighted 
with this dramatic defiance of the Assembly, and imme- 
diately set up a storm of applause. The House, deter- 
mined to assert its dignity, ordered the doors closed 
and the arrest of some of the applauders ; and among 
those taken were several officers of the crown, and 
several familiar Philadelphia names, like Willing, 
Wallace, and Peters. The punishments for this out- 
burst were prosecuted with considerable vigor. Arrests 
were again made on the day following; and the 
applauders were obliged to prove clearly their inno- 
cence, or apologize and pay a fine. 

As in Moore's case, the sheriff was ordered to pay 
no attention to any writs of habeas corpus. But Smith 
was determined to carry on his contest, and informed 
the House by letter that, though they had refused his 
appeal to the crown, they could not destroy his consti- 
tutional right to an appeal, and he was determined to 
prosecute it. Meantime he used all honorable means 
to attain his liberty. He wrote to Chief Justice 
Allen, a very ardent member of the proprietary party, 
asking for a writ of habeas corpus, and also to the 
governor; but neither of them were able to assist him. 
There was nothing left for him but to prosecute his 



The Violence of Party Spirit 

appeal to the crown, and meantime he had to stay in 
prison, where he remained for eleven weeks. 

In a letter he wrote to the Bishop of London, he 
describes himself as crowded with visitors from morn- 
ing to night, and it appears that he conducted all his 
business and carried on the affairs of the college from 
his cell. The trustees of the college passed a reso- 
lution, which appears on their minutes of Feb. 4, 
1758. The Assembly of the province, they said, having 
taken their provost into custody, and a great incon- 
venience arising thence, it is ordered that " his classes 
should attend him at the usual hours, in the place of 
his present confinement." 

He lived in this way until the nth of April, when, 
on the adjournment of the Assembly, he was released 
by order of the Supreme Court. When the Assembly 
met again, new warrants were issued for his arrest, 
but they were not executed. At the meeting of the 
Assembly, however, in September, 1758, he was again 
arrested and kept in confinement during the whole ses- 
sion of the House. He also had a warrant issued for 
him at the meeting of the next Assembly; but it ap- 
pears never to have been executed, and nothing more 
was done against him. 

Meantime, among the numerous visitors to the prison 
was Miss Rebecca Moore, who came to see and com- 
fort her father, and who may possibly have been at some 
of the numerous levees that appear to have been held 
in the provost's cell. Smith was touched by her 
beauty and her devotion to her father, and in June, 
during one of his respites from prison, was married to 
her in her father's house, Moore Hall, on the Schuyl- 

203 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

kill. Smith, like other Philadelphians of that time, 
had already secured a country-seat of his own near the 
Falls of Schuylkill; and in this year of his marriage 
he built himself a mansion there, which still stands, 
and is now included within Fairmount Park. 

William Moore, the father of his bride, was brought 
up for trial before the governor on the 24th of August, 
1758, and, in spite of the violent attacks of the Assem- 
bly, acquitted of all blame, and allowed to retain his 
office. 

Smith's means of obtaining justification were longer 
and more difficult. He sent his appeal to England, 
and thither he sailed in December, 1758. His arrival 
created quite a little stir in the circle of learned men 
and clergy in which he moved; and they were entirely 
in sympathy with him, as an accomplished and distin- 
guished young man, who had been martyred and perse- 
cuted by an Assembly of Quaker fanatics, who would 
not fight the French. He received the degree of 
Doctor of Divinity from Oxford, and also from Aber- 
deen, and was feted and encouraged wherever he went, 
and his appeal to the king was most successful. 

It was argued before the Committee of Trade and 
Plantations of the Privy Council, and both the Assem- 
bly and Provost Smith were represented by lawyers. 
The attorney-general also appeared on behalf of the 
crown. The committee prepared a long report of the 
case, which is still to be found among their records. 
They recommended a decision in the provost's favor, 
and that a proper warning should be sent to the Assem- 
bly and Governor of Pennsylvania. The Privy Coun- 
cil gave judgment, and prepared the warning. The 

204 



The Violence of Party Spirit 

Assembly were told that their unwarrantable behavior 
had aroused the high displeasure of his Majesty; that 
they had assumed to themselves powers which did 
not belong to them, which invaded his Majesty's pre- 
rogative as well as the liberties of the subject ; and 
the governor was required, for the future, to take the 
utmost care and use all means to support the laws 
and his Majesty's prerogative against such encroach- 
ments. The refusal of the writ of habeas corpus to 
Smith was severely reproved, and it was ordered that 
hereafter, in all cases in Pennsylvania, his Majesty's 
writs should issue freely, according to law, and that no 
persons whatsoever should presume to disobey them. 

The provost's success in his appeal was well deserved. 
He had been treated by the Assembly in a manner most 
unlawful and outrageous, and the rebuke administered 
by the Privy Council was eminently proper; but it 
was barren of any political results. The Quakers, 
supported by the Germans, or, in other words, the 
majority of the people, continued to control the Assem- 
bly and conduct warlike operations as before, and it 
was well they did. Nothing could have been gained 
by a change, even if the Quakers and Germans had 
all been disfranchised, and the provost and the minority 
party put in power. All had been done that could be 
done; and no greater number of men and no greater 
number of pounds sterling could have been forced from 
the colony. Nor could any change in political par- 
ties have altered the natural difficulties of the wild, 
mountainous frontier. 



205 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 



CHAPTER XIV 

THE END OF THE WAR 

THE gloom and disasters of the year 1757 were' 
dissipated by the rise to power of a brilliant and won- 
derful man who has not unjustly been described as the 
creator of modern England. William Pitt had been 
made prime minister in June, 1757, and by the close of 
the year a new order of things began. 

The genius of this great man for organizing soon 
restored the spirit and energy of the colonies. In- 
stead of making exacting and irritating demands upon 
them, telling them how many men each was to furnish, 
and at the same time implying that their best exertions 
would be almost worthless, he announced that he would 
send to their assistance a powerful army which would 
act in concert with their provincial troops ; and that 
each colony should raise as large a force as it was able. 
Instead of instructing the governor to drag and hector 
a minutely described quota of men and money from 
each Assembly, he told the governors to be careful to 
appoint only popular men as officers, and give them all, 
from colonel downward, proper commissions, with due 
regard to seniority and rank. England, he said, would 
supply the arms, ammunition, provisions, and tents. 
The only charge on the colonics would be levying their 
men, clothing them, and paying them their wages. 

206 



The End of the War 

The effect of this change of policy on Pennsylvania 
was immediate. More men were raised than ever 
before, and twenty-seven hundred were offered to the 
English commanders. The Assembly voted ;£ 100,000, 
and offered a bounty of five pounds to every recruit, 
and one pound to the recruiting officer. Wagons were 
provided, quarters for the soldiers, roads put in repair, 
and a troop of fifty-eight horse equipped. 

The previous plans against the French had contem- 
plated nothing more than driving them back to Canada 
and preventing them from getting behind the colonies 
in the Mississippi Valley. But Pitt now aimed at the 
conquest of Canada itself. The army he assembled 
for the various expeditions against it amounted in 
all to about fifty thousand men, — the largest body of 
troops that had ever been seen in the new world, — 
and of the fifty thousand about twenty thousand were 
provincials. 

Of the three expeditions into which this force was to 
be divided, only one concerned Pennsylvania, and that 
was the expedition against Fort Du Quesne. This ex- 
pedition was in command of Forbes, a Scotchman of 
good family who had studied medicine in his youth and 
afterward purchased a commission in the British army. 
His force consisted of about seven thousand, of whom 
Pennsylvania furnished twenty-seven hundred, Virginia 
sixteen hundred, Maryland two hundred and fifty, 
North Carolina one hundred and fifty, and the rest 
were British regulars. 

The Virginia, North Carolina, and Maryland troops 
were commanded by Washington, and assembled at 
Winchester in Virginia. The Pennsylvania provincials 

207 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

assembled at Raystown, now Bedford, occupied by 
Colonel Bouquet with the regulars. 

Forbes remained behind in Philadelphia to direct oper- 
ations, and he intended to join the army as soon as it was 
prepared to move ; but ill-health detained him for a long 
time in the rear. Bouquet, who was in actual command 
of the army, was in every respect the equal of Forbes, 
and one of the most accomplished and attractive officers 
that had ever been sent to America. He was a French 
Swiss who had risen in military life on the continent 
entirely by merit. He had attracted the attention of 
the Prince of Orange, who secured his services for the 
Dutch Republic; and when distinguisned and well 
known, he had been persuaded to join the British army. 
His French susceptibility and quickness made him even 
more capable than Forbes in adapting himself to the 
wilderness life and Indian tactics. He became as shrewd 
and wary as an old trapper, and invented movements 
among his troops to counteract the art of the Indians. 

The expedition was delayed so long by the ill health 
of Forbes and other causes that it was the 9th of Sep- 
tember before it reached Bedford, where it was joined 
by Washington with the Southern troops. The delay, 
it was hoped, however, would prove an advantage. 
The Indian allies of the French, who had collected in 
great numbers at Fort Du Quesne, would grow tired of 
waiting ; and meantime General Forbes and the Quakers 
in Philadelphia were trying to bring about a peace with 
the scattered members of the Delaware and Shawanese 
tribes that were living in the far West. 

The members of these tribes who were living in 
Pennsylvania had already made a treaty of peace, and 

208 



The End of the War 

together with the Six Nations assisted in converting 
their western brothers. Frederick Post, a devoted 
Moravian missionary, who had lived among the Indians, 
was, at the instance of the Friendly Association of the 
Quakers, sent to the Ohio in July and again in October 
as an envoy. Unarmed and with only two or three 
attendants, this heroic man went directly through the 
woods to the fiercest savages of the West, and preached 
his mission of peace. His journal of his adventures is 
most simple and graphic, as well as a striking and 
interesting picture of the condition of the red men. He 
openly addressed an assembly of them close to Fort 
Du Ouesne, with French officers standing by and writ- 
ing down what he said. A reward was offered for his 
scalp, and parties lay in wait for him ; yet he escaped 
them all, and returned after a most successful mission. 
The Delawares agreed to join their brethren of Pennsyl- 
vania in a treaty of peace. 

A great convention was held at Easton in October, 
lasting from the seventh to the twenty-sixth of the 
month. The Governors of Pennsylvania and New 
Jersey were present, all the Indian agents and inter- 
preters, four members of the Council, six members of 
the Assembly, and a number of magistrates and citizens 
chiefly Quakers. There were about three hundred 
chiefs with their women and children, representing a 
long list of tribes and bands, — Mohawks, Oneidas, 
Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, Tuscaroras, Nanticokes, 
Conies, Tutiloes, Cheyennes, Delawares, Unamies, 
Minisinks, Mohicans, and Wappingers. It was a most 
picturesque as well as important assemblage. The 
Indians had full scope to make all their complaints 
14 209 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

about ill-treatment and land-stealing. The Minisinks 
were given a thousand pounds to satisfy their claims in 
New Jersey, and the proprietary agents of Pennsylvania 
reconveyed to the savages the land of the last purchase 
at Albany, which had been unjustly taken. It was a 
great healing, and went far to restore the conditions that 
had prevailed before the Walking Purchase and other 
aggressions which had alienated the red men and drawn 
them to the side of France. 

Post returned to the Ohio with the white wampum 
belt and its message of friendship. The escort of 
soldiers that accompanied him as far as the Alleghenies 
was on its return cut to pieces by members of the 
very tribes to which the white belt was being carried ; 
but Post pressed on. 

His reception was at first so terrible that he had to 
comfort himself with the thought that God had stopped 
the mouths of the lions that would have devoured 
Daniel. The young Indians were possessed of a mur- 
dering spirit, drunk and thirsty for vengeance. But 
in spite of all the efforts of the French officers against 
it, the treaty was finally accepted. The Delawares and 
Shawanese were the friends of the English ; and in 
Bouquet's opinion Forbes had by this Quaker treaty 
struck the blow which decided his final success. 

Meantime, while Forbes, with the main body of the 
army, was moving slowly westward, Bouquet had ad- 
vanced to Loyalhanna, fifty miles west of Bedford, and 
sent out Major Grant, of the Highlanders, with thirty- 
seven officers and eight hundred men, to reconnoitre 
Fort Du Quesne. He was ordered not to approach too 
near it, and to avoid discovery and an attack, 

2TO 



The End of the War 

The French were well aware of Forbes' expedition, 
and their scouts were all through the woods ; but Grant 
and his men eluded them, and on the 14th of September 
were within eleven miles of Fort Du Quesne. They 
halted until three in the afternoon, when they marched 
within two miles of the fort, and left their baggage in 
charge of a captain and fifty men. It was now dark, 
and at eleven o'clock at night Grant had his troops 
within half a mile of the fort on top of a little hill, 
which long afterward bore his name, and is now in the 
heart of Pittsburg, and surmounted with the Court- 
house, one of Richardson's noblest efforts in architec- 
ture. He could overlook the fort on the level land 
below, near the river. Everything was still, and during 
his whole scout Grant had seen neither Indian nor 
Frenchman. He concluded that the force in the fort 
must be very small. 

He saw visions of glory and the honors that would 
be given the man who with a small scouting-party 
should succeed where Braddock had failed. In spite 
of his orders, he concluded to make an attack. He sent 
fifty men to fall upon the Indians who might be sleep- 
ing outside of the fort; but they saw none, neither were 
they challenged by sentinels, and as they returned they 
set fire to a storehouse, which was soon after extin- 
guished by persons coming out of the fort. 

At daybreak, Grant sent Major Lewis back on the 
road with two hundred men to lie in ambush near their 
baggage. Two other detachments were placed on other 
hills facing the fort. Grant himself remained with a 
few men on the hill he had first reached ; and the rest 
were sent against the fort, with drums beating, in the 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

hope of drawing out the enemy into the ambuscades. 
It seems to have been a complete surprise to the French 
and Indians; but when they were aroused, they sallied 
out in great numbers, some of them in their night- 
clothes. They had evidently grasped the situation as 
soon as they looked from the fort, for their men were 
divided into two divisions, the first of which crept along 
under cover of the river-bank to surround those on the 
hill, and the other attacked those that had come against 
the fort. 

Captain MacDonald, who led the attack upon the 
fort, was driven back to the hills ; but as soon as he 
was there, the main body found itself flanked and sur- 
rounded by the division of French and Indians that had 
crept along the river-bank. A fierce battle followed, 
and it was Braddock's defeat over again. The provin- 
cial troops adopted the Indian tactics and fought behind 
trees ; but the regulars stood up after the European 
manner and were slaughtered. The few that were not 
killed fled ; and the provincials, finding themselves un- 
supported, were obliged to follow. 

Major Lewis, who was near the baggage, hastened 
forward to Grant's relief, and found himself surrounded 
in the woods, and shots coming from the trees. His 
men gave way. The main body soon fell back upon 
the baggage, and Grant endeavored to rally them. But 
the enemy were close upon his heels ; and as soon as 
they came in sight, there was another panic, and both 
regulars and provincials fled. Two hundred and seventy 
were killed, and forty-two wounded, and both Grant and 
Lewis captured. 

As weeks went by and the French noticed that Bou- 



The End of the War 

quet was still camped on the Loyalhanna, and the main 
body under Forbes had not arrived, they decided to 
make use of the opportunity. On the 12th of October 
about twelve hundred French and two hundred Indians 
under the command of De Vetri made a sudden assault 
upon Bouquet's camp, but after an action of four hours 
were compelled to withdraw. Another attack during 
the night was equally futile. Bouquet was not the 
man to be caught napping. He lost, however, though 
acting only on the defensive behind fortifications, sixty- 
seven killed and wounded. 

Toward the end of October Forbes succeeded in 
joining Bouquet at Loyalhanna; and the season was so 
far advanced that at a council of war it was decided to 
abandon the expedition until spring. But a few days 
afterward three French scouts were caught, and when 
closely questioned revealed the weak state of the garri- 
son at Fort Du Ouesne. The Indians had returned home 
for their winter hunt, and the number of Frenchmen 
remaining in the fort was trifling. 

Forty-three hundred men were at once selected for 
an attack, and, adopting the greatest precautions to 
avoid ambuscades, moved slowly across the mountains. 
When within twelve miles of the fort, some of the 
Indians, who had been reconnoitring, came back and 
reported that the fort was on fire. They had seen a 
dense cloud of smoke rising and filling the whole river 
valley. Soon afterward other scouts arrived, who had 
been close to the fort, and reported that it was burnt 
and abandoned. Cavalry were immediately sent forward 
to put out the fire and save the property, and the whole 
army arrived at the ruins on the 25th of November. 

213 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Fort Du Quesne, of such terrible memory, and such a 
menace to the colonies for so many years, was nothing 
but black and smoking timbers. There was no spoil 
for the conquering army except a few barrels of gun- 
powder which had not exploded, and a wagon-load of 
scalping-knives. The cannon and every other article 
of value had been sunk in the river or removed. The 
few hundred Frenchmen that had been there had es- 
caped down the Ohio, or up the Allegheny to Presque 
Isle and Lake Erie. The army had nothing to do but 
to bury the bodies of Grant's men, which lay scattered 
and scalped on the hill and in the woods, and after that 
to go and gather up the whitened bones on Braddock's 
field and give them some sort of a soldier's grave. 

General Forbes left two hundred provincial troops to 
rebuild the fort and garrison it, and the little settlement 
of cabins where they were to live meantime he called 
Pittsburg. The next autumn General Stanwix built 
Fort Pitt. 

The war, so far as Pennsylvania was concerned, was 
over ; and four thousand farmers that had been driven 
in among the settlements returned to their homes and 
began again to cultivate the land. Forbes was the idol 
of the day. But his health was broken ; and as soon as 
the victory relieved him of the strain, he was prostrate. 
He lingered until the following spring, when death 
rescued him from further suffering, and he was buried 
with great honor and ceremony in Christ Church, Phil- 
adelphia. He had ended forever the attempt of the 
French to press downward from Canada into the Mis- 
sissippi Valley, and the possession by the Anglo-Saxon 
race of the Great West was assured. 

214 



The Estates are Taxed 



CHAPTER XV 

THE ESTATES ARE TAXED 

THE Assembly were now relieved from raising war 
supplies; and their patriotism in having temporarily 
yielded to the proprietors was soon rewarded. Frank- 
lin had been steadily working at his mission in England 
to have the proprietors' estates taxed. For two years 
he could accomplish nothing. The turmoil of the war 
overwhelmed all other considerations; and the people, 
high and low, were generally quite ignorant of American 
affairs, and still more indifferent to them. Provost 
Smith and the proprietary party in Pennsylvania were 
busy sending over information, so that so far as public 
opinion was informed at all, it was informed against 
Franklin. 

As soon as he arrived in the summer of 1757, he had 
been advised by his friend, Dr. Fothergill, not to make 
immediate complaint to the government until he had 
first sought redress from the proprietors. But his 
appeal to the proprietors having proved of no avail, 
he directed his energies to the powers with whom in 
the end the final decision would rest, — the members of 
the Privy Council. His efforts in this direction were 
equally unsuccessful. He could obtain no audience 
with William Pitt, who was too busy with the affairs of 
the great war that was convulsing all Europe to attend 
to a trifling dispute in one colony. 

2I 5 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Defeated in this second attempt, he decided to appeal 
to the public in general. The moment lie arrived 
he had been visited by all the distinguished men in 
England, who were curious to see the man who had dis- 
covered that lightning was electricity, and who had 
become the most learned of his day by living in a little 
wilderness colony across the Atlantic. His circle of 
acquaintances was constantly widening. He was invited 
to dine at London houses, to visit country-seats; and 
among the people he met in this way he gradually 
made known the complaints of his province against her 
proprietors. 

He also seized the first opportunity to make known 
his grievance in the public press ; and an article having 
appeared in the " General Advertiser " reflecting on the 
conduct of the Pennsylvania Assembly, his son, who 
had accompanied him, wrote an article in reply. The 
reply was copied into other papers and extensively 
circulated. It defended Pennsylvania from the misrep- 
resentations of Smith and the proprietary party, and 
showed that the province's frontier had been as well, if 
not better, defended than the frontiers of other colonies, 
and would have been still better protected had it not 
been for proprietary instructions to the governor. 

So encouraged was Franklin by the success of this 
letter of his son that he set this same son to work to 
write what is now known as the " Historical Review of 
Pennsylvania," — a book of over four hundred pages, 
which, though written for partisan purposes, has be- 
come an important historical authority. Its principal 
value, however, consists in its numerous quotations 
from the messages of governors and the replies of the 

216 



The Estates are Taxed 

Assembly. For the rest, it is merely an attempt to 
magnify every dispute to the prejudice of the proprie- 
tors and their deputies. The long periods when the 
colony was well governed, as under Keith and Gordon, 
are passed over in comparative silence; and unfortunate 
administrations, like those of Evans and Morris, fill the 
greater part of the book. But it had a great effect in 
its day; was not only sold, but distributed freely by 
Franklin wherever he saw an opportunity, and greatly 
assisted him in his task. 

He had intended when he first came to England to 
advocate the change of Pennsylvania to a royal 
province; but the extreme difficulty of this proposal 
finally induced him to abandon it, and he confined him- 
self to two points only, — the taxation of the proprietary 
estates and the relief of the Assembly from proprietary 
instructions to governors. 

The taxation of the estates was his best chance, and 
on this he had an argument which carried some weight 
in England. Even Tories who cared but little for the 
rest of the colony's liberties could see that the claim of 
the proprietors to be exempt from taxation was an 
absurdity. The greatest dukes and feudal lords in Eng- 
land were taxed, and why should a proprietary gentle- 
man escape? The English people, lords as well as 
commons, were quite severely taxed for the war at that 
time ; and it was a little exasperating to see the Penn 
estates exempt when they were right upon the American 
border, and the people at home spending thousands of 
pounds to protect them. 

Meantime Governor Denny in the province was re- 
laxing his rigorous obedience to his instructions. For 

217 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

several years he had received no salary from the Assem- 
bly; and under pressure for want of money, and the 
belief that Franklin would succeed in England, he gave 
his assent to a bill subjecting the estates to taxation. 
The bill was sent to England, and the proprietors 
opposed it before the Privy Council, as hostile to their 
rights and ruinous to themselves and their posterity. 
This was Franklin's opportunity, and he secured coun- 
sel to resist the lawyers of the proprietors before the 
Privy Council. 

The proprietors argued that the Act was intended 
to load the proprietary estate with all the burdens 
of government and war, so as to spare the estates of 
the people; and if it were suffered to continue, the 
proprietors would be taxed out of existence, and the 
proprietorship broken up. They professed to believe 
that all their wild and unmarketable lands would be 
taxed at the same rate as cultivated lands, and that 
their town lots would be taxed at such rates as to cut 
off all profit from a rise in value. The taxes would be 
increased until their income was cancelled, and all hope 
of speculation gone. In other words, they believed 
that the colonists would apply to them the single-tax 
theory which has been so much discussed in our time, 
and which, by putting all taxes on lands and taxing 
them to their full value, will, it is supposed, cut off 
speculative profit and turn it in the direction of the 
laborer instead of into the hands of the landlord. 

Franklin and his lawyers replied that the Act had no 
such intention and would have no such effect. All that 
was asked was equality ; and the assessors were honest 
men under oath who would take no advantage. 



The Estates are Taxed 

At this point an idea occurred to Lord Mansfield. 
He called Franklin aside and asked him if he really 
thought no injury would be done the proprietary estate ; 
and when Franklin said certainly, he asked him if he 
would enter into an engagement to assure that point. 
The philosopher readily assented, a paper was drawn, 
which he signed, and the Act received the royal appro- 
bation. 

This was in 1759, after Franklin had been in England 
two years. He had waited long for his opportunity, but 
when it came he made good use of it, and his reputation 
was greatly enhanced. The Assembly and province 
considered themselves deeply indebted to him; and his 
willingness to risk his own personal engagement was 
regarded as the highest public spirit. He, however, 
risked little or nothing ; for the tax was fairly assessed, 
and the proprietors had to pay only £5 66. 

Their pride was broken and their attacks on the 
liberties of the colony decisively checked. They had 
intended to use the necessities of the war to curtail pro- 
vincial rights ; but the end of the war brought only a 
curtailment of their own excesses. The sturdy resist- 
ance that the colonists had always shown was well 
rewarded, and their acquiescence on one or two occa- 
sions in the demands of the governor lost them nothing. 
The constitutional liberties of the province had shown 
a steady growth from the beginning, and that growth 
continued. 

The fame of Franklin's success spread to other colo- 
nies. It was the beginning of his diplomatic career, 
and Massachusetts, Maryland, and Georgia forthwith 
made him their agent. 

219 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Governor Denny was at once removed by the Penns; 
and James Hamilton, who had been governor once 
before, was in October, 1759, appointed in his place. 
His instructions were rather mild, and show the change 
of heart that had come to the proprietors. The tri- 
umphant Assembly willingly voted in 1760 a grant of 
£100,000 to complete the conquest of Canada, and the 
bill taxed the proprietary estate. Hamilton made a 
feeble attempt to gain control in the expenditure of 
the money, but was easily defeated ; and the Quaker 
Assembly went on in their good work, voting £23,500 
for the king's use, and building, for the protection of 
the Delaware, a fort on Mud Island at the mouth of the 
Schuylkill, which afterward became Fort Mifflin. 

Peace was declared, Nov. 3, 1762; and Feb. 10, 
1763, the treaty of Paris was signed. Franklin returned 
the following summer covered with honors and glory, 
and the memory of the greatest pleasures he had 
ever enjoyed. He had received the degree of doctor 
of laws from the universities of St. Andrew's, Edin- 
burgh, and Oxford. He had become a member of 
numerous learned societies. He had seen and conversed 
with the greatest men of the age, made new experi- 
ments in science, furnished Priestley with the infor- 
mation for his book on electricity, and published 
essays on all sorts of subjects. The Assembly voted 
him their thanks and £500 for every year of his 
absence. 



Pontiac's Conspiracy 



CHAPTER XVI 

PONTIAC'S conspiracy 

Montreal had been taken Sept. 8, 1760, and at the 
same time the French surrendered Detroit and all their 
other posts on the lakes as far as the Straits of Mack- 
inaw, between Huron and Michigan. This extended 
the English frontier four hundred miles west of Fort 
Pitt, far beyond the hopes of the colonists in the be- 
ginning of the war; for at one time they had looked 
forward to nothing more than to keep the French west 
of Pennsylvania. 

The treaty of Paris, signed in February, 1763, seemed 
to make everything secure; and the Pennsylvania far- 
mers, who had returned to their homes, looked forward 
to a long era of quiet and prosperity. But that treaty 
had not reckoned with an important element in the 
situation. The stalwart savage, Pontiac, was not con- 
sulted, and his signature had not been secured. The 
Indians soon discovered, as they had long suspected, 
that the English were a far worse enemy to their race 
than the French. They cut down more trees; they 
killed and frightened away more game; and they 
advanced their detested civilization with rapid strides. 
Pontiac determined to organize all the Indian tribes 
from Lake Ontario to Georgia, and rush upon the 
whole colonial frontier. 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

The wonderful skill he showed in organizing, and 
the craft and cunning with which he took fort after 
fort from the English, can best be read in the vivid 
pages of Parkman. Inspired by the genius of their 
leader, the Indians took, in a short time, Venango, 
Le Bceuf, Presque Isle, La Bay, St. Joseph's, Miamis, 
Ouachtumon, Sandusky, and Michilimackinac, massa- 
cring the garrisons, and leaving only Detroit, Niagara, 
and Fort Pitt in the hands of the English. 

By the ist of June, 1763, scalping-parties reached 
Fort Pitt and began to murder all round it. Soon the 
main body of the savages dashed itself against the 
Pennsylvania frontier, and made a clean sweep of 
everything west of the Susquehanna. It was the mas- 
sacre after Braddock's defeat over again, but a great 
deal worse. The Indians were more numerous, more 
thoroughly organized, and had been directed to burn 
and destroy as well as kill. Pontiac was no trifler 
in war. He knew that the property of the white man 
was as valuable as his scalp; and houses, barns, corn, 
hay, and everything that would burn received the torch. 
There was a completeness about the devastation unusual 
with Indians, and showing the direction of a master 
mind. Armed parties of rangers, who visited the 
scenes of destruction, found everything levelled to 
ashes, with burnt bodies in the cinders, and here and 
there the frightful sight of a human being tomahawked 
and scalped, but still alive, or the disgusting scene of 
pigs tearing and feeding on the dead. 

The people, utterly unprepared, supposing they had 
settled down to a long peace, fled eastward in droves, 
like frightened sheep, leaving their grainfields waving 



Pontiac's Conspiracy 

in the wind, and surrounded by the silent forests. 
They crowded into Shippensburg and Carlisle, filling 
houses, stables, cellars, and pig-sties, or lying in 
open sheds in the streets. On the 25th of July, 1763, 
there were in Shippensburg alone over thirteen hun- 
dred of these unfortunates, and hundreds of others in 
other places, or camped along the banks of the 
Susquehanna. 

All attempt at resistance, or even the thought of it, 
seems to have been paralyzed. The terrible war-whoop 
and the inhuman butchery and cruelty were now so 
well known that the people were panic-stricken, and 
fled at the first suggestion of them. It is impossible 
for us now to realize the effect upon the minds of the 
bravest, at that time, of the slightest intimation that 
the Indians were upon them. In New York, near the 
town of Goshen, in this same year, 1763, four or five 
men went partridge-shooting among the hills, and, 
happening to fire all their guns at once at a large covey, 
immediately depopulated the whole country-side. At 
the sound of the volley echoing through the woods, 
farmers cut the traces of their horses from carts and 
ploughs, and galloped away for their lives. Women, 
children, and property of all kinds were seized and 
hurried across the Hudson into New England. Five 
hundred families fled from their homes, and for many 
days the neighborhood was completely abandoned. 1 

In Pennsylvania, the first to arouse themselves were 
the Philadelphians, who began to send assistance to 
the fugitives. The congregation of Christ Church 
were particularly active. Besides money, they for- 

1 Penn. Gazette, No. 1809. 
223 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

warded two chests of arms and half a barrel of powder, 
with bullets, lead, and flints. A missionary tbey sent 
out to distribute the relief found seven hundred and 
fifty abandoned farms, and two hundred frightened 
women and children huddled together in Fort Pitt. 

That same Fort Pitt was soon surrounded by the 
Indians, and all communication with it cut off. Unpro- 
vided with cannon, and with no knowledge of the reg- 
ular methods of siege, the red men, nevertheless, seemed 
to be inspired with greater steadiness and patience 
than they had ever shown before. They posted them- 
selves under the banks of both rivers, digging out holes 
and intrenchments with their knives, and poured upon 
the fort, from day to day, a steady storm of balls and 
fire-arrows, which seemed to come out of the ground. 
The commander was Capt. Simeon Ecuyer, a gallant 
and genial Swiss, like Bouquet. If we may judge from 
his letters, he thought it good sport to dodge the fire- 
arrows as he passed round the port-holes, encourag- 
ing his grim frontiersmen, who were trying to plant 
bullets where they had seen the last puff of smoke. 
The fort was strong and well supplied with provisions; 
but the fire and the famine of the close investiture 
would in time reduce it, and the fate of the soldiers 
and the refugee settlers, with their wives and chil- 
dren, in the hands of such enemies, was terrible to 
contemplate. 

General Amherst was commander-in-chief of the 
British force in America, and every effort was made 
for a rescue. Relief was sent by water to Detroit and 
Niagara, and an expedition planned to save Fort Pitt, 
under the lead of that daring and perfect soldier, 

224 



Pontiac's Conspiracy 

Col. Henry Bouquet. He was given only five hun- 
dred men, the remains of two regiments that had just 
returned, broken and diseased, from the West Indies. 
Orders were given to prepare provisions for him at 
Carlisle; but the frightened people could scarcely 
supply themselves. When he arrived there he found 
nothing:, and had to distribute the food that he had 
brought with him among the unfortunate people. 

But he was no loiterer. He arrived at Carlisle on 
the 3d of July, and eighteen days afterward started for 
Fort Pitt with what may be described as a hospital 
battalion; for his men, though veterans, were many of 
them so infirm that they had to ride on the wagons. 
Not a man of the Scotch-Irish frontiersmen joined him. 
They were slow at furnishing him with wagons, and 
caused him many delays. They were, indeed, broken 
and demoralized, and stayed at home, they said, to pro- 
tect their families; and, moreover, they believed that 
the colonel and his sick list were doomed. 

They certainly seemed to be walking \into the jaws 
of death ; for the Indians, as soon as they heard of 
their march, dropped the siege of Fort Pitt and started 
to waylay them. The English were not only sick, but 
were fewer in numbers than the number of the slain at 
Braddock's defeat, while the Indians were many times 
more numerous. But these sickly veterans were com- 
manded by a soldier who, of all the officers in the 
British army, was the most skilled in the warfare of 
the woods. Fort Ligonier and Fort Bedford lay 
between him and Fort Pitt, and his first movement 
was to strengthen them. They were full of military 
supplies; and if they and their garrisons were taken, 
J 5 22 5 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

the Indians would have abundant means for attack or 
siege. He sent thirty men ahead of him, who, by 
forced marches, reached Fort Ligonier unobserved, 
dashed through the Indians that surrounded it, and 
joined the garrison within. Two companies of light 
infantry relieved Fort Bedford in a similar way, and on 
the 25th of July Bouquet arrived there with his whole 
force. 

The Indians were scouting and scalping all round. 
Communication was cut off. He could learn nothing 
of the condition of Fort Pitt or obtain any knowledge of 
the situation except that the woods seemed to be full 
of the enemy. Nevertheless, on the 28th, he started 
for Fort Ligonier, where he left his wagons, and with 
a convoy composed only of pack-horses, moved on. 

He had come within almost twenty miles of Fort 
Pitt, and he knew that there was before him a danger- 
ous defile with rough, wooded sides. To elude any 
ambuscade, he decided to make, a forced march, and 
pass through this defile quickly in the night. But 
having started with that intent about one o'clock in 
the afternoon of August 5, when within half a mile 
of Bushy Run, and not far from Braddock's fatal field, 
the Indians suddenly made a savage attack on his 
advance-guard. The main body came quickly to the 
support of the guard, and, the whole force advancing, 
the Indians gave way. It was the same tactics that 
had been used against Braddock; and when it was 
found that the Indians were retreating, the pursuit was 
instantly checked, and the little army drawn together. 
It was none too soon ; for almost immediately, as with 
Braddock, the enemy rose up as out of the ground, on 

226 



Pontiac's Conspiracy 

the flanks and rear, and those who had retreated rushed 
back. A charge was made, which dislodged them for 
a time; but it had no useful effect, for they imme- 
diately came back again. It was their policy to retreat 
as soon as attacked, and then return under cover of the 
trees. Bouquet could do nothing but withdraw to the 
convoy, forming a circle round it, with the wounded 
inside. The Indians formed a circle outside, and the 
battle raged till sunset. 

It was in many respects like the attack on Braddock, 
and yet how different ! There was not the slightest 
confusion among those West India invalids; and, won- 
derful to relate, they succeeded, before night, in driv- 
ing off the Indians, not by bushwhacking, but with 
their bayonets. 

Bouquet, however, had grave doubts of his ability to 
survive the next day; and he sent a messenger, who 
slipped through the Indian lines, to warn General 
Amherst that he might expect to hear of a calamity. 
The men slept in the circle round the baggage, and the 
next morning were attacked again. The Indians raged 
and yelled, circling round and round the Englishmen, 
and several times tried to break into the circle. They 
were repulsed ; but how long could such a situation 
be endured? The English were suffering from thirst, 
unable to move, constantly killed and wounded, losing 
their horses, and must, in the end, succumb. 

But Bouquet knew the Indian mind, and he also 
could lay ambuscades. If he could only bring them 
to a close engagement, he might escape. For this 
purpose he withdrew two companies from the most 
advanced part of the circle, as if retreating, and they 

227 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

passed out of the circle at the opposite side of it. The 
Indians instantly attacked the place that seemed to 
have been weakened, and they were the more encouraged 
when they saw the whole circle contracting. They left 
the woods that had covered them, and rushed in a 
mass to the point where they believed they could break 
the circle. It was a terrible onset, and in a few 
minutes they would have broken in. But the two 
companies that had passed outside went round half the 
circle, and suddenly fell upon the Indian flank. The 
Indians could not withstand their charge; and, as they 
fled, they were again attacked by two other companies 
that had slipped out on the other side of the circle. 
The four companies joined their fire, and, all rushing 
upon the enemy, scattered them in the woods. 

The sudden and unexpected defeat of their com- 
panions demoralized the whole body of the Indians, 
and they gave up the contest. But in their retreat 
they passed close by Fort Pitt, and sounding their 
dismal scalp-yell, shook their bloody trophies at Ecuyer 
and his garrison. Bouquet and his exhausted men 
were left to pursue their way, unharmed, to the fort. 
But so severe had been the engagement, so many horses 
had been lost, and so great the fatigue endured, that 
the little army spent four days in making the twenty 
miles. 

But it was a most remarkable victory, snatched, as it 
was, from what seemed certain defeat. It was the first 
instance of a successful stand by troops fighting after 
the European manner, and surrounded by Indians in 
the woods. It has even been asserted that there was 
never, either before or since, such a victory of white 

228 



Pontiac's Conspiracy 

men over Indians. Bouquet's prompt sagacity had 
saved the day; and it is almost certain that any other 
British officer of that time would have left his bones, 
with those of his men, to whiten in the forest. He 
deserved greater honors than he has ever received from 
Pennsylvania, whose people he delivered from a vast 
increase of death and suffering. The Indians seemed 
to consider themselves utterly routed, and no more 
was heard from them that autumn and winter. The 
frightened settlers returned to their farms, and again 
believed that peace was secured. Bouquet strengthened 
himself in Fort Pitt, and secured his line of communi- 
cation back to the east. 



229 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE SCOTCH-IRISH AND THE QUAKERS 

After Bouquet had left Carlisle, and was moving 
westward to his victory at Bushy Run, the courage of 
the frontiersmen was somewhat restored, and they 
began to organize as rangers and defend themselves. 
The men in the neighborhood of Carlisle and Shippens- 
burg were led by James Smith, who had been in cap- 
tivity among the Indians in the previous war, and 
wrote an interesting narrative of his adventures. His 
men painted their faces red and black like the savage 
warriors, and became such skilful bushwhackers that 
their part of the frontier was but little molested. In 
the upper part of the Susquehanna Valley, one hundred 
and ten rangers intercepted some Indians at Muncey 
Creek, and, after a battle of half an hour, put them to 
flight. Colonel Armstrong also collected about three 
hundred men to surprise the Indians on the Susque- 
hanna. He arrived, however, too late, for the Indians 
had fled. But learning of another small village of 
them, he selected one hundred and fifty of his best 
men to make a dash upon it, as he had done some 
years before upon Kittanning. He reached the vil- 
lage; but the enemy did not wait to fight him, and 
left the dinner which they were preparing still hot 
upon their bark plates. He was obliged to satisfy 

230 



The Scotch-Irish and the (Quakers 

himself with the destruction of their houses, grain, 
and provisions. 

The Assembly also raised a force of seven hundred 
men, who were divided into small parties, to range the 
Susquehanna Valley and enable the people to gather 
their crops. Two of these companies, stationed in 
Lancaster County, were in command of a famous 
Presbyterian minister, Rev. John Elder, pastor of a 
church at Paxton. 

The last war had made the Indian name sufficiently 
detested, but the new outburst, under Pontiac, had 
inflamed the people to such a pitch of hatred that some 
of them were ready for any sort of vengeance. We 
gain an idea of the state of this feeling when we find 
that Amherst, the commander-in-chief of the British 
forces, thought it would be well to infect the various 
tribes with small-pox, that Bouquet said he would try 
to carry out the suggestion with infected blankets, and 
that another subordinate officer suggested the distribu- 
tion among them of greater quantities of rum. It was 
with the greatest difficulty that Bouquet could protect 
prisoners, and even the Indian scouts and 'messengers 
he employed, from the vengeance of the frontiersmen. 
A few friendly Indians, who sought his protection at 
Carlisle, had to be carefully guarded from the people; 
and the solitary prisoner his men took at Bushy Run 
was shot to death like a rat. The Indians he employed 
to carry despatches were instructed, when they ap- 
proached a post or settlement, to put a green branch 
in the muzzles of their guns; and this signal was 
supposed to be understood by every one ; yet the poor 
fellows were sometimes shot at sight. 

231 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

The thirst for the wildest kind of vengeance was 
most intense and clamorous among the Scotch-Irish 
frontiersmen, who now for the first time became con- 
spicuous. Heretofore they had played an insignificant 
part in the history of the colony; had been content to 
go out and occupy the wild land, and pay little atten- 
tion to politics. They were scattered over vast extents 
of mountain and forest, and their entire energies 
absorbed in the struggle for existence. But danger 
and suffering were rapidly driving them into union; 
and they began at this time to form themselves into a 
distinct and organized party. 

Their loud complaints against the Quakers and the 
Assembly, and their demands for protection and ven- 
geance, may seem somewhat inconsistent when we 
remember that they had declined to follow Bouquet 
in his expedition to save Fort Pitt, although that was 
evidently the only plan that would permanently check 
invasion and secure the protection and vengeance they 
desired. They, however, soon afterward formed them- 
selves into ranging companies, and took very efficient 
means for their own protection. But they were not 
much interested in invasions of the enemy's country, 
and apparently because they thought it more impor- 
tant to stay at home and protect their families, while 
the regular troops attended to the distant expeditions. 

As part of this home protection, they soon turned 
their attacks upon the Quakers and the semi-civilized 
Indians living in the eastern part of the province. 
They were certain that the Quakers were responsible 
for everything; and their Presbyterian preachers, who 
were now rapidly organizing them, gave them great 

232 



The Scotch-Irish and the (Quakers 

encouragement in this opinion. Fiery sermons were 
preached. The Quaker doctrine was wrong, and only 
evil could result from it. The Quakers had offended 
God in the foundation of the colony by making treaties 
of kindness with the Indians instead of exterminating 
them as a heathen race; and that policy of treaties and 
pious friendship, still persisted in, had gradually devel- 
oped this calamity of continuous murder and scalping 
from which there seemed no escape. It was the ven- 
geance of an angry deity. The heathen had not been 
destroyed, the Scriptures had been disobeyed, and God, 
as a punishment, had deluged the frontiers with blood. 

" And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before 
thee, thou shalt smite them and utterly destroy them ; thou 
shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto 
them." — Deuteronomy vii. 2. 

After Bouquet's victory at Bushy Run, in August, 
1763, the Indians were almost entirely quiet for some 
months. But in the autumn some depredations, though 
by no means so excessive as before, were committed ; 
and the frontiersmen believed that the whole flood of 
massacre would be again upon them. They began to 
suspect that the friendly Indians of Conestoga, near 
Lancaster, and those that had been converted to Chris- 
tianity by the Moravians at Bethlehem, were at the 
bottom of the mischief, and were supplying their red 
brethren with ammunition and information, and shel- 
tering them from pursuit. 

The Conestoga Indians were the degenerate descend- 
ants of some of the clans that met the first settlers, 
supplied them with game, and made treaties with 

2 33 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

William Penn. They had left the war-path, and even 
the chase, and were devoting themselves to basket and 
broom making, and other small occupations. They 
were supposed to be completely tamed, and were the 
pets of the proprietary government, which supplied 
them at times with food and clothes. They were often 
troublesome, and in the previous war had threatened to 
go over to the French, but were restrained by fresh 
presents. 1 One of their number, Will Sock, had been 
charged with murder; but their offences were usually 
no worse than continual begging from the government, 
which, they said, owed them support because it had 
driven away their game. The people who lived near 
them seem to have usually regarded them as harmless. 
But some of the frontiersmen thought differently, and, 
after having collected what they considered sufficient 
evidence of their evil disposition, asked Governor 
Hamilton to remove them, and assured him that .their 
removal would secure the safety of the frontier. He 
was himself, however, removed from office before he 
could reply, and in October, 1763, John Penn, the son 
of Richard Penn, one of the proprietors, appointed in 
his stead. 

Governor Penn was in his turn also warned about the 
Conestogas ; but he told the rangers that these Indians 
were innocent and helpless, and occupied a part of one 
of the proprietary manors, having been placed there by 
a private agreement with his grandfather, the founder, 
and this agreement had been since confirmed. The 
government, he said, was therefore pledged to their 
protection. 

1 8 Col. Rec. 113, 122, 135. 

234 



The Scotch-Irish and the Quakers 

About the same time a party of rangers encamped 
near the Moravian Indians in the Lehigh Valley, 
intending to destroy them in the night, but a violent 
storm prevented. The governor, however, investigated 
these Indians in conjunction with some commissioners 
appointed by the Assembly; and the commissioners 
reported the Indians dangerous, and in league with 
the hostile tribes. A resolution passed that they be 
invited to come to Philadelphia; and one hundred and 
forty of them were accordingly brought down, jeered 
at, and cursed by the people in every town they passed 
through, and with difficulty saved from an attack of 
the mob in Philadelphia. They were protected by 
the government in suitable buildings, and their wants 
supplied by the Quakers. 

It was not a moment too soon. The people at 
Paxton, near the present site of Harrisburg, were 
under the preaching of the famous John Elder, who 
had often addressed an armed congregation with his 
own rifle resting beside him in the pulpit. Fifty-seven 
of them, ever after known as the Paxton Boys, finding 
their warnings unappreciated, went, at the break of 
day, on the 14th of December, 1763, to the village of 
the Conestogas, and found only six of them at home, 
— three men, two women, and a boy, — who were 
instantly shot down, their bodies mangled, and their 
cabins and property burned. As the rangers re- 
turned through the snow, after their bloody work, 
they met a man, to whom they freely told what they 
had done. He protested against their cruelty, and 
was bluntly asked, "Don't you believe in God and 
the Bible?" 

235 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

At a house where some of them stopped for refresh- 
ment, a little boy, who went to look at their horses, 
noticed the bloody tomahawks hanging at the saddle- 
bows, and after they were gone told his parents. The 
truth was immediately suspected ; and, on going to the 
Indian village, the bodies of the six unfortunates were 
found still burning in the ruins of the cabins. The 
sheriff and a party soon after arrived ; and the remain- 
ing fourteen of the tribe, who were away selling brooms, 
were promptly collected and put, for protection, in the 
work-house at Lancaster, as the jail was called. 

The rangers heard of it, and in a few days assembled 
again and started for Lancaster. John Elder, their 
pastor, had attempted to stop their previous expedition ; 
and, hearing of this new one, he mounted his horse 
and overtook them. He drew rein across the road in 
front, and used all his authority to dissuade them ; but 
a rifle held against his breast forced him to move aside. 
They rode into Lancaster at a gallop, fastened their 
horses, and rushed to the jail. The doors were crushed 
in, and the poor Indians, men and women and children, 
shot, and cut to pieces with hatchets. 

This was probably the first instance of the adminis- 
tration of that lynch law, as it is called, which has 
now become so common among us that hundreds of 
lynchings take place in the United States every year; 
and so far as it is a benefit, the Scotch-Irish may be 
given the credit for its introduction. The lynching of 
the Conestogas would not now occasion much surprise, 
especially in some parts of the country. But in the 
year 1763, it was altogether a new thing among English- 
speaking peoples, and the surprise, indignation, and 

236 



The Scotch-Irish and the Quakers 

disgust shown in the pamphlets and writings of the 
time were very great. 

These wild Scotch- Irish, it was said, had been cry- 
ing aloud for protection, and yet were afraid to assist 
in protecting themselves by marching with Bouquet to 
save Fort Pitt. Instead of marching westward, where 
the enemy was, they had come eastward, and murdered 
a score of poor, degraded, defenceless people, mostly 
women and children. How could law and order be 
maintained, and what was the security for life, liberty, 
or property, if any chance band of ruffians could take 
the law into their own hands and at their own caprice 
condemn and execute ? 

Franklin was particularly indignant and outspoken. 
He wrote a pamphlet, which, like everything else from 
his pen, had a wide circulation, and was known for a 
long time as the "Narrative," from the first word of 
its title. The Assembly and their friends were much 
delighted with it; and for some months it was almost 
impossible to enter certain houses without being asked, 
" Has thee read the ' Narrative ' ? " 

The Arabs, Turks, and Papist Spaniards, said 
Franklin, in his rich and homely phrases, protect the 
helpless and unfortunate and all who have broken 
bread or plighted faith with them ; and the poor 
Conestoga Indians would have been safer among any 
of these infidels, or among the negroes of Africa, than 
among the Christian white savages of Peckstang and 
Donegal. 

They were the remnants of a tribe, he said, that 
met the first settlers of the province with presents of 
corn and venison, and afterward made, with William 

237 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Penn, the great treaty, the admiration of the whole 
civilized world. The words of this treaty had declared 
that it was to last as long as the sun should shine or 
the waters run in the rivers. It had been renewed 
from time to time, or, as the Indians expressed it, the 
chain had been brightened; and the twenty remnants 
of the tribe still kept up the custom of presenting an 
address of welcome to every new governor. They had 
only just completed this ancient and interesting cere- 
mony in the presence of young Penn, the grandson of 
their great benefactor, when they were annihilated by 
the Paxtons, — the valorous, heroic Paxtons, prating of 
God and the Bible, fifty-seven of whom, armed with 
rifles, knives, and hatchets, had actually succeeded in 
killing three old men, two women, and a boy. 

But on the frontier, and among a large number of 
people in the eastern part of the province, the lynchers 
had the fullest sympathy, and so strong was the feel- 
ing that the government was powerless. No attempt 
was made at concealment. The rangers openly boasted 
of their deed, and as one of them afterward expressed 
it, were ready to leave their cause with God and their 
guns. It was generally believed that the Conestogas 
were more or less guilty; it is probable that one or two 
of them had been concerned in some of the minor 
depredations that had been recently committed; and 
with this for an excuse, the authorities were easily 
defied. 

Governor Penn issued two proclamations, denouncing 
the murder of the Indians, and instructed the magis- 
trates to commit the guilty ones for trial wherever 
found. But nothing was ever done, and nothing could 

238 



The Scotch-Irish and the Quakers 

be done. A company of British regulars, encamped 
near Lancaster, on their way from Fort Pitt, seem also 
to have been in sympathy with the lynchers, and could 
not be relied upon to enforce the law. The governor 
was helpless, and his proclamations meaningless and 
laughed at. 

As in the previous war, there had been a violent 
outburst of party feeling, so now there was another. 
The Scotch-Irish were soon in the full flame of an 
insurrection, not unlike the Whiskey Rebellion, in 
which they indulged themselves almost thjrty years 
afterward. The few Quakers who lived on the frontier 
were in danger of their lives, or of having their houses 
burned by mobs. Meetings were held, denouncing the 
Assembly, and everything else at Philadelphia; and 
delegates were appointed to proceed to that city and 
demand redress. 

A large company of backwoodsmen, variously esti- 
mated at from five hundred to fifteen hundred, set forth 
in January, 1764, on foot and on horseback, and finally 
halted at Germantown, seven miles north of the Quaker 
stronghold. They had intended to enter that strong- 
hold, but found the ferries on the Schuylkill guarded, 
and more preparation than they expected. One ferry, 
however, — the Swedes Ford, — some fifteen miles 
north of the city, was open, and crossing by this they 
found themselves between the two rivers, and, turning 
down toward the city, thought it prudent to venture 
no farther than Germantown. 

This strange assemblage had both a civil and a mili- 
tary character. It was composed of the representa- 
tives of public meetings, and also of the rangers and 

239 



y 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

j 
Paxtons with their weapons. The rangers openly 
declared that they intended to capture Philadelphia, 
seize the one hundred and forty Moravian Indians, and 
put them to death as they deserved. They also had 
some vague intentions, they scarcely knew what, of 
destroying the political power of the Quakers. They 
expected much assistance from the mob in the city, 
which had already shown itself so hostile to the con- 
verted Indians ; and they hoped that their Presbyterian 
brethren would also assist them, or, at . least, remain 
neutral. .As they passed along the roads leading to 
Philadelphia, they amused themselves by thrusting 
their rifles into the windows of the farmhouses, shoot- 
ing chickens and pigs, and occasionally they would lay 
hold of some man, throw him down, and pretend to 
scalp him. 

Their coming had been foreseen for some time, and 
their movements watched by scouts and couriers, who 
were constantly arriving in the town with their horses 
all in foam. The greatest excitement and alarm pre- 
vailed, especially among the Quakers and anti-proprie- 
tary party. The Presbyterians and Churchmen had less 
to fear. But all who had property to lose, no matter 
what their faith, knew what the invasion meant. 

At first it was intended to send the Moravian Indians 
down the river; but this was changed, and they were 
sent to New York, to be under the protection of Sir 
William Johnson and the Six Nations. But the New 
York governor would not receive them, and the Gov- 
ernor of New Jersey would not allow them to remain 
in his province. They were a source of riot and excite- 
ment among the people wherever they went. So they 

240 



The Scotch-Irish and the Quakers 

were returned to Philadelphia, and quartered at the 
soldiers' barracks near what is now Third and Green 
streets. 

The greatest preparations were made to protect 
the city. British regulars were summoned. Six com- 
panies of foot, two of cavalry, and a battery of artillery 
were hastily formed; and the quarters of the Moravian 
Indians were fortified with earthworks and cannon. 
Governor Penn anxiously sought the aid of Franklin, 
who again became a military man, and superintended 
the preparations. 

He had no difficulty in raising recruits; for the 
Quakers had now no scruples whatever against the 
fleshly arm. The unspeakable Presbyterian was upon 
them, — the man who in New England had hung four 
of their sect, and whose religion knew no mercy for 
the heretic. Human nature asserted itself, and the 
Quaker rushed to war. Some of them worked on the 
fortifications, and salved their consciences with the idea 
that it was not actual fighting. But others, so the 
pamphlets of that time report, openly shouldered mus- 
kets, and asked to be led to Germantown, where they 
declared they would kill every Scotch- Irishman in the 
colony; that they had force enough to do it; and it was 
the only way to treat such robbers and murderers. 

Many, however, feared that it would be the rangers 
who would make the first attack. The day of their 
arrival, the 4th of February, the Quakers and others, 
who had hastily become soldiers, assembled at the 
barracks containing the Indians and a few regulars 
at Third and Green streets. There they remained all 
night in a drenching rain, expecting at any moment to 
16 241 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

hear the crack of Paxton rifles. The next day, although 
Sunday, it seemed well to let the Scotch-Irish know 
what might happen to them ; and the cannon which 
commanded all the approaching streets were fired. 
The poor Indians in the barracks, not knowing the 
reason, thought their last hour had come. 

But instead of a battle, some ministers were sent to 
meet the rioters and pacify them ; and while they were 
gone, an alarm was raised at the dead of night in the 
city. The church-bells were rung, the drums beat, 
and the people, as they sprang from their beds, imme- 
diately, in conformity with a previous understanding, 
put lighted candles in every window. With the streets 
all illuminated, the citizen soldiery assembled again at 
the barracks, and soon saw their enemy approaching 
on horseback, up one of the streets. A cannon was 
levelled at them; the gunner held the match; and in 
another moment some Presbyterians would test the 
truth of their theology in the other world. But there 
was a frantic cry, the gunner's hand was stayed, and 
directly every one saw that the enemy was a party of 
Germans, come in from the country to assist their 
friends the Quakers. 

A day or so afterward there was another night alarm. 
The candles flamed in every window, and the soldiers 
were again at the barracks. But no enemy appeared ; 
and a rain-storm coming up, many of the soldiers shel- 
tered themselves in a Quaker meeting-house, which 
for a time bristled with bayonets and swords, an 
opportunity for satire on Quaker principles of which 
the Presbyterian pamphleteers were not slow to avail 
themselves. 

242 



The Scotch-Irish and the Quakers 

Commissioners were sent out to negotiate at German- 
town, and among them was, of course, the sagacious 
and genial Franklin. They conferred with the rebels, 
and interested themselves in watching their strange 
appearance and costume, — the blanket-coat, with a 
belt, the fringed leggings, and the long rifle. They 
were not as rough always as they seemed, and some 
of them, in conversation, proved to be quiet, pleasant 
fellows, with a rather intelligent comprehension of 
civil rights. Their excitement had been quieted by 
the preparations they knew had been made in the city, 
and some of the more agreeable traits of the Scotch- 
Irishman had begun to show themselves. A com- 
mittee of them began to prepare a memorial of their 
grievances; and those who remained at Germantown 
whiled away the time by practising with their rifles at 
the old Lutheran church's weather-vane, — the figure 
of a cock, — which, with the bullet-marks upon it, is 
still preserved. 

Their document of grievances, when prepared, was 
expressed in clear, temperate language, with here and 
there an admirable touch of backwoods simplicity. So 
far as good taste and strength of argument were con- 
cerned, it might almost have been written by Franklin; 
and it was not unequal to some of the state papers of 
the Revolution. It showed a side of the Scotch-Irish 
character which fortunately became more conspicuous 
in after years. 

It complained mildly that the Moravian Indians, the 
abettors of the massacre of women and children, were 
protected by the government and secured from righteous 
vengeance; but it made no demands about them except 

243 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

that they should be removed from the colony, and here- 
after no Indians allowed to live in the inhabited parts 
of the country in time of war. It complained that a 
law had been passed by which the men who killed the 
Conestoga Indians were to be tried at Philadelphia 
instead of in the county where their supposed crime 
had been committed, and it asked that this grievance 
be remedied. The five frontier counties — Lancaster, 
York, Cumberland, Berks, and Northampton — had 
only ten representatives in the Assembly, while the 
interior counties — Philadelphia, Chester, and Bucks 
— .had twenty-six. The representation, it said, should 
be more equal. 

The men wounded in border wars, the complaint 
went on, should be cared for at public expense ; no 
more trade should be carried on with the Indians until 
they restored the prisoners they had taken ; and here- 
after no private person should be allowed to correspond 
or treat with any hostile tribe. Great complaint was 
made about the scalp bounty. In the previous war, it 
was said, Pennsylvania, like the rest of his Majesty's 
colonies, had offered a bounty for Indian scalps. The 
practice had been most beneficial ; for it encouraged 
daring men to invade the Indian country, and inflicted 
most serious loss on the enemy. They asked for a 
renewal of this excellent custom, the discontinuance 
of which had blunted the energies of many a brave 
ranger. 

Their petition having been finished and presented, 
most of the rioters prepared to depart for their homes, 
and the citizen-soldiers in the town were called to- 
gether, thanked for their services, and dismissed. But 

244 



The Scotch-Irish and the (Quakers 

the next morning the alarm was again sounded. The 
Paxtons had broken the treaty and were in the town. 
Within fifteen minutes a thousand of the people were 
under arms, and, according to a Quaker writer of the 
time, were so infuriated at being disturbed again, that 
if the whole body of the enemy had come in, there 
would have been a very bloody engagement. 1 But it was 
only about thirty of the frontiersmen, who, before they 
returned home, wanted to see the sights of the town. 

They were allowed to wander about and gratify their 
curiosity. They asked to be taken to the barracks 
of the Moravian Indians, where, they said, they could 
point out some who had been in battles against the 
white men; but when taken to the Indians, they were 
unable to find any of those they had described, and 
were obliged to start the story that the Quakers had 
secreted the guilty ones. Several of them boasted 
openly that they had taken part in the Conestoga 
murders; and one of them is reported to have said, 
with much swagger, " I am the man who killed Will 
Sock ; this is the arm that stabbed him to the heart, and 
I glory in it." 

Will Sock was a well-known character among the 
Conestogas; and Graydon, in his " Memoirs," relates 
the boast of the man who professed to have killed him 
as having been made to a school-teacher, named Davis, 
in whose school Graydon was a pupil. Davis, like 
many others, especially Presbyterians, had mingled 
among the thirty frontiersmen when they came to the 
city, and talked with them. He was so far carried 
away by their opinions that he related their deeds to 

1 Haz. Pa. Reg. xii. 1 1 . 
2 45 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

his school-children with approval. "He was really a 
kind, good-natured man," says Graydon, "yet from the 
dominion of his religious or political prejudices he had 
been led to apologize for, if not to approve of, an out- 
rage which was a disgrace to a civilized people." 

The incident illustrates very well the state of feeling 
and the way in which people took sides. So many 
people, like the good school-master, Davis, sympathized 
with the rioters that, though they openly spoke of what 
they had done at Conestoga and Lancaster, the govern- 
ment dared not arrest them, even when it had them 
in its grasp in the city. On the other hand, many 
others, like Graydon and Franklin, although not 
Quakers, were of a different way of thinking, and 
were thoroughly disgusted with the Paxtons and their 
insurrection. There has been much misunderstanding 
of the situation, because writers have given the impres- 
sion that only the Quakers opposed the Scotch-Irish. 
But as a matter of fact, pretty much the whole body of 
the Germans in the country districts, and many Church- 
men and others, were on the Quaker side ; and if they 
had not been, Philadelphia would probably have been 
sacked and burned, followed by a revolution in the 
government. 

Only one request of the Scotch -Irish was granted. 
The governor issued the long -desired scalp proclama- 
tion. After offering large rewards for prisoners and 
male scalps, it closed by saying, " And for the scalp of 
a female Indian Fifty pieces of eight." Such was the 
melancholy end of Penn's Indian policy, — a policy 
which for its justice and humanity had at one time 
aroused the admiration of all the philosophers of 

246 



The Scotch-Irish and the Quakers 

Europe. But now the tribe with which he made the 
famous treaty, dwindled by rum and civilization to a 
miserable remnant of twenty, had turned traitor to the 
colonists, and was annihilated, and his grandson was 
offering bounties for women's scalps. 

Party spirit was up. It would not be appeased when 
the frontiersmen retired from Germantown, and the 
rest of the contest had to be fought on paper. The 
Quakers and the anti-proprietary party denounced 
the Paxtons, and declared that, instead of coming to 
Philadelphia with rifles in their hands, they should 
have come with ropes round their necks. On the other 
side, the proprietary party — the Presbyterians, and 
many of the Churchmen — were loud in praise of the 
Paxtons, who, they said, had, by their promptness, 
delivered the colony from wretches who had been 
destroying men, women, and children for years. The 
two factions rushed into one of the fiercest pamphlet 
wars of which we have any account in colonial history. 

The controversy was not only hot and bitter, but 
very voluminous; for between fifty and sixty pam- 
phlets are still to be found in the collection of the 
Pennsylvania Historical Society, and it is not unlikely 
that there were others which have been forgotten or 
lost. Some of them are in verse, and some in dia- 
logue; but most of them are in plain and sometimes 
coarse prose. 

The burden of the Quaker argument was that the 
Presbyterians had unlawfully settled on land belonging 
to the Indians, and had brought on the war. So long 
as the Indians were in contact with the Quakers and 
the Germans there was peace; but as soon as the 

247 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Presbyterians went among them, the trouble began. 
The Germans lived on the frontier, and suffered 
severely from Indian raids; but they never com- 
plained of the Conestogas, and never suspected them 
of treachery. Moreover, the Presbyterians were bad 
people in other respects. They were always rebellious 
and disorderly, as the history of the sect in England 
clearly showed. Rebellion and Presbyterianism had 
become interchangeable terms. They propagated their 
religion by the sword, like the Mahometans, and had 
a terrible record of cruelty and persecution in Scotland 
and New England. Their object in Pennsylvania, as 
everywhere else, was to establish their religion by law, 
levy taxes for the support of it, and compel everybody 
to attend the kirk under penalty of fine and imprison- 
ment. 

The word " Presbyterian," when used by the Quakers, 
was intended to include Puritans, Independents, and 
Massachusetts Congregationalists; in fact, all Calvin- 
ists, who were the people, of all others, that the 
Quakers hated. They believed them to be a serious 
menace to religious liberty, and resented their presence 
in the colony. They looked upon the Pennsylvania 
Scotch-Irish as belonging to the same sect, which, in 
Massachusetts, had hung four Quakers, and whipped a 
hundred or more of them at the cart's tail. The 
Massachusetts affair is often referred to in the pam- 
phlets, and usually with great bitterness. In one of 
the dialogues, a Quaker, after describing how he will 
overcome the Scotch- Irish at Germantown, says to a 
Presbyterian, "Then will I remember New England 
and make thee tremble." 

248 



The Scotch-Irish and the Quakers 

The Scotch-Irish, and their sympathizers in the 
proprietary party, answered the Quaker hatred with 
contempt and ridicule. The sect, they said, was, by 
its absurd principles, unfit for government, and should 
be driven out of it. It was impossible for a Quaker 
to be sincere in his religion and, at the same time, 
take part in politics ; and, as a matter of fact, the best 
members abstained altogether from politics, and left 
the government of the colony to the hypocrites. In 
the horrors of the French and Indian wars, as well as 
in Pontiac's conspiracy, these hypocrites, as well as the 
more pious and deluded ones, had been corresponding 
with the savages, giving them presents, and attempt- 
ing to stop their bloodthirsty course with treaties and 
kindness. They would never go to war while white 
people were in danger; but the moment the Moravian 
Indians were threatened they rushed to arms. 

Some of the Presbyterian doggerel verses on this 
subject were rather good : — 

" Go on good Christians never spare 
To give your Indians clothes to wear; 
Send 'em good beef and pork and bread, 
Guns, powder, flints and store of lead, 
To shoot your neighbors through the head ; 
Devoutly then make Affirmation, 
You're Friends to George and British Nation; 
Encourage ev'ry friendly savage, 
To murder, burn, destroy and ravage ; 
Fathers and mothers here maintain, 
Whose sons add numbers to the slain ; 
Of Scotch and Irish let them kill 
As many thousands as they will 
That you may lord it o'er the land, 
And have the whole and sole command." 
249 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Some of the writers, however, took a coarser view, 
and found the cause of Quaker affection for the Indians 
in the charms of the squaws. Several caricatures and 
doggerels enlarged on this point, and were so indecent 
that in modern times they would have been suppressed 
by the police. 

250 



The Conspiracy Broken 



CHAPTER XVIII 

THE CONSPIRACY BROKEN 

The relief experienced after Bouquet's victory at 
Bushy Run, or after the Scotch-Irish victory in the jail 
at Lancaster, as some insisted, was only a lull. With 
the first breath of spring the savages were on again. 
They moved in small, scattered bands, sneaking here 
and there, destroying isolated farms, and picking off 
stragglers, as they had done before; and, as had hap- 
pened soon after Braddock's defeat, they came upon a 
country schoolhouse, and killed the master and the 
children. There was only one way to stop them, and 
that was to invade them by a powerful force in their 
own country. Colonel Bradstreet was sent through 
the lakes to relieve Detroit, and Bouquet was to march 
through Pennsylvania into Ohio. 

Bouquet had two regiments of regulars, some Vir- 
ginians and friendly Indians, and the Assembly raised 
for him a thousand men. It is said that the commis- 
sioners of the Assembly also agreed with him that they 
would send to England for fifty couple of bloodhounds 
to hunt the Indian scalping-parties. This plan of 
using dogs to assist the scouts and rangers had been 
several times suggested. Much was expected from 
it by Bouquet and others; and all the details of 
training the dogs and managing them in the woods 

2 5 J 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

had been prepared. But apparently it was never put 
in execution. 

The story of this expedition into Ohio, believed by 
the Indians to be beyond the courage of a white man, 
the strange adventures of the army, their visits to the 
remains of curious old French and Indian villages, and 
their first glimpse of the open savannas, free from 
trees, is most fascinating, but hardly pertinent to a 
brief history of Pennsylvania. Bouquet was, as usual, 
successful beyond expectation. He compelled a peace 
with the Indians, and they returned to him the two 
hundred and more prisoners, — men, women, and chil- 
dren, — many of whom had been in their possession for 
nearly ten years. 

The relations of many of these prisoners had gone 
out with the army; and the scene when the prisoners 
were all brought into camp has often been described. 
Fathers and mothers suddenly recognized their chil- 
dren; husbands received their wives, that had been 
carried from them years before; sisters and brothers 
met after their long separation, and the excitement and 
sympathy, even among those who were not expecting to 
find relatives, was intense. But in the midst of all the 
delight there were some who ran to and fro in vain, and 
asked eager questions that no one cared to answer. 

Many of the children were unwilling to return with 
their white relations, and had to be taken by force, 
parting from their savage captors with tears. Even 
some of the grown persons were unwilling to return, 
and the Indians, in order to fulfil their agreement with 
Bouquet, were obliged to bind them and carry them 
to the camp. Nearly all the white women who had 

252 



The Conspiracy Broken 

been for any length of time among the Indians showed 
great reluctance to leave, and many of them afterward 
returned to their warrior husbands. 

There has probably never been a man connected with 
Pennsylvania who, in the best sense of the word, was 
so thoroughly popular with all classes of the people as 
Bouquet; for he had relieved them from a loss and 
from a horror of panic and suffering of which we can 
now scarcely conceive. No single person, not even 
Meade at Gettysburg, has ever before or since done 
them such a service. They have erected no monu- 
ments to his memory, and he is now almost forgotten. 
But in the year 1764 every man and woman seemed to 
regard him as a personal friend to whom they owed 
a debt of gratitude. The social life of Philadelphia, 
then becoming remarkable, in a provincial way, for its 
wealth and refinement, was at his feet. Even the Ger- 
mans, who seldom became enthusiastic about anything 
outside of the fences that enclosed their farms, idol- 
ized him; and when he was made a brigadier-general, 
the whole province was delighted. " You can hardly 
imagine," writes Captain Etherington to him, from 
Lancaster, "how this place rings with your promotion; 
for the townsmen and boors stop us in the streets to 
ask if it is true that the king has made Colonel Bouquet 
a general ; and when they are told it is true, they march 
off with great joy." 

The pleasure of his return to Philadelphia was, how- 
ever, marred by a disagreeable incident. The Virginia 
troops that accompanied the expedition, not being able 
to obtain payment for their services from their own 
province, entered claims for their wages against 

253 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Bouquet, who, they said, had asked for their assistance 
in the campaign; and he had to be relieved from his 
embarrassment by the Assembly, which promptly paid 
this debt of Virginia. If Virginia had had a Quaker 
population, Parkman would have had the opportunity, 
in his "Conspiracy of Pontiac," of assigning this 
repudiation of a war debt to Quaker scruples; but, as 
the Quaker Assembly of Pennsylvania assumed and 
paid the debt, he is compelled simply to record it with- 
out comment. 



254 



The Attempt to Abolish the Proprietorship 



CHAPTER XIX 

THE ATTEMPT TO ABOLISH THE PROPRIETORSHIP 

THE agreement Franklin made in England, by which 
the proprietary estates were to be taxed on condition 
that the tax should be fair, naturally led to further 
difficulties. The proprietors and the Assembly easily 
differed as to what was fair; and the proprietors were 
soon back at their old tactics of trying to gain an 
advantage. 

The arrangement made by Franklin provided that 
certain wild lands of the proprietors were not to be 
assessed any higher than the lowest rate at which sim- 
ilar lands of the people were assessed. But the gov- 
ernor construed this to mean that the proprietary 
lands should be rated at the lowest valuation of the 
worst lands of the people. In the year 1764, when 
supplies were being raised for Bouquet's final expedi- 
tion, which ended the war for Pennsylvania and secured 
the treaty of peace, the governor attempted to force 
this construction on the Assembly. It was the last 
chance to use war necessities to gain an advantage for 
the proprietors, and the attempt nearly cost them their 
province. 

The bill in which the point was raised was one for a 
grant of £50,000 for Bouquet's campaign; and the gov- 
ernor refused to sign it unless the Penns were given 

2 55 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

the advantage of having their best wild lands taxed at 
the rate paid by the people for their worst. It was a 
petty attempt. It admitted the principle, long con- 
tended for by the people, that the estates should be 
taxed, and yet tried to force a trifling advantage at the 
last moment by delaying an important money bill. 

But the advantage, though trifling, was gained. The 
Assembly, anxious to end the war as soon as possible, 
and determined to be even with the governor and his 
masters in another way, passed the bill to suit him. 
Immediately there was a great excitement among a large 
part of the people, not only the Quakers, but all classes ; 
and their anger was increased when the governor 
resorted to the old habit of sending affronting messages 
to the Assembly. Encouraged by having accom- 
plished so much against the proprietors, and freed 
from any fear of French invasion, they rushed at once 
into a measure which they had long had in mind. This 
was no less than to abolish the proprietorship, and turn 
the country into a royal province under the direct 
government of the king. 

The way in which this was intended to be accom- 
plished was by completing the agreement to sell to the 
crown, which Penn had made in his lifetime and had 
been prevented by failing health from executing. The 
king was to step into the place of the proprietors, so 
far as the civil government was concerned, and pay 
them for the loss of it. Everything else was to stand 
as it was. The proprietors were to retain their lands, 
and there was to be no change in laws or charter. The 
king was simply to buy from the Penn family their 
right to govern. 

256 



The Attempt to Abolish the Proprietorship 

Even if the plan could have been carried out exactly 
as proposed, without any change in laws or charter, 
there would seem to have been but little to be gained 
by having a royal governor. But the worst difficulty 
lay in the probability that when the king, either by his 
prerogative or through an Act of Parliament, assumed 
the position of the proprietors, he might also take some- 
thing more, and either change the charter and laws, or 
abolish them and create new ones. The mere fact of the 
people having petitioned for a change might easily be 
construed into a surrender of everything. 

It is rather difficult to account for this popular outburst 
in favor of royal government on the eve of the events 
which led to the Revolution, except to say that it was a 
mere outburst of feeling. The Quakers, who were the 
leaders of the movement, had for a long time been very 
hostile to the proprietors, partly, no doubt, because they 
resented their change of religion. The province had 
always been a Quaker province ; the Quakers had 
always ruled it; they were proud of their work; it 
seemed more honorable to be under the crown alone 
than to be owned by private individuals, who had de- 
serted the faith of their father. 

As advocates of the abolition of the proprietorship, 
they became more and more powerful, and were now 
able to gather to their anti-proprietary party members 
from all the other divisions. The Scotch-Irish on the 
frontier sided with them ; not from any love of such 
companionship, but because they believed that the 
blame for the defenceless condition of the border could 
be partly charged to the neglect of the proprietors, and 
that they would have more protection against Quaker 
17 257 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

peace, as well as proprietary indifference, under a 
vigorous administration by a royal governor. They 
had no more respect for the crosses and candles of a 
Church of England king than for the " thee " and " thou " 
of the Quakers ; but they had an intense and ever pres- 
ent horror of the tomahawk and scalping-knife. The 
Germans, so far as they interested themselves in the 
subject, were divided ; and the Churchmen were also 
divided. But the Quakers and Scotch-Irish, together 
with portions of the Germans and Churchmen, made 
the majority in favor of a change of government in the 
year 1764 very large. 

But the other side, though few in numbers, was strong 
in ability, character, and wealth. It consisted of the 
eastern Presbyterians, who, not having the fear of the 
Indian before their eyes, differed from their brethren of 
the border. They were led by the Rev. Gilbert 
Tennent, son of the founder of the Log College, and by 
the Rev. Francis Allison. They dreaded a royal govern- 
ment because they believed it would be followed by the 
establishment by law of the Church of England with 
bishops, surplices, altars, persecution, and all the 
iniquities of their ancient enemy. They preferred to 
take their chances with the proprietors, who, although 
Episcopalians, had thus far let them alone. 

The Churchmen were also active partisans on the 
side of the proprietors ; and the provost and the college 
set were the most active of all. They still found the 
proprietorship and the Episcopal heirs of Penn con- 
genial to their tastes. They had more to expect from 
Thomas Penn's earnest sympathy for their opinions 
than from a royal government. They were prospering 

258 



The Attempt to Abolish the Proprietorship 

very well as things were, and their feelings and senti- 
ments revolted from any suggestion of a change. 

There was also still in existence the set who were de- 
pendent on the proprietary system for their incomes, 
and also the class who, having acquired wealth, were 
admirers of the proprietorship, because it represented to 
them the aristocratic feeling of England. People of 
this sort had by no means diminished with the growth 
of the colony. Probably most of them were Epis- 
copalians ; but, as a class, they were made up of mem- 
bers from all the divisions, and many of them had hard 
words for the shop-keeping Franklin, who took the 
Quaker and royal side. 

These people, who took sides with the proprietors, 
occupied a very important position in the colony. 
They were patriotic and public-spirited, and many of the 
best things in Philadelphia are the work of their hands. 
In the present contest many of them had other reasons 
than mere feeling or taste for favoring the proprietary 
system, — reasons based on law, good sense, and a love 
of liberty. In fact, the condition of things was just the 
reverse of what it had been in the French and Indian 
wars, when the Quakers had been defending the 
liberties of the colony, and the provost and proprietary 
party had been against them. The Quakers were now 
jeopardizing those liberties, and the provost and the 
Churchmen were upholding them. 

It was at this time and in this contest that John 
Dickinson first became prominent. He had been born 
in 1732 on the eastern shore of Maryland, but most of 
his youth had been spent near Dover, in Delaware, 
where he received his education from a tutor, William 

259 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Killen, who afterward became a chief justice. When 
eighteen years old, Dickinson came to Philadelphia to 
study law under John Moland, a very prominent prac- 
titioner, and went to England to finish his studies. 
It was the fashion in Philadelphia, and also in the 
Southern colonies, to send law students to England to 
complete their equipment at the English inns of court. 
Nearly all the men who established the great fame of 
the Philadelphia bar were trained in this way, and the 
result is still apparent in the jurisprudence of the State. 
Dickinson drank at this same fountain, and it had con- 
siderable influence in shaping his career as a statesman. 

He was a Quaker born and bred, and remained so to 
his dying day. He lived handsomely, drove his coach 
and four, was a colonel in the Revolution, and a very 
serious student of history and law. He believed in war, 
and was more in favor of the higher education than the 
majority of the sect. He had a large practice at the 
bar, and acquired in a very few years what was then 
considered a fortune. At the time of the proposed 
change of government in 1764, he was only thirty-two, 
and was twitted by Franklin on his youth and inexpe- 
rience. His practice then extended from Philadelphia 
to New Castle and Dover. He had entered political 
life in 1760 when he was elected to the Assembly of the 
Lower Counties. Two years afterward he was chosen 
a member of the Pennsylvania Assembly. 

For forty years he was one of the most conspicuous 
men in the colony. His integrity was perfect, and his 
political career is one straight line of principle and con- 
duct. He had the full measure of Quaker courage and 
indifference to consequences, which sometimes amounted 

260 



The Attempt to Abolish the Proprietorship 

to obstinacy. In the stormy times through which he 
passed, whenever his opinions became unpopular he 
went down with colors flying. He never would change 
a letter or a syllable to satisfy the demands of the hour, 
and he always had the satisfaction of seeing the people 
return to him. 

Although the mass of the Quakers were in favor of a 
change of government, Dickinson took the opposite 
side. It is not likely that he was influenced by his 
wealth and position. He was more influenced by his 
training as a lawyer, his knowledge of affairs in 
England, where he had studied law, and his instinctive 
dislike of movements that seemed hurried or pre- 
mature. 

Isaac N orris, afterward his father-in-law, was another 
Quaker who took the same side and for somewhat the 
same reason. His whole life had been passed in the 
public service. He had been Speaker of the Assembly 
for fifteen years ; and he had steadily resisted the pro- 
prietors in their attempts to be exempt from taxes. 
But when the change to a royal government was pro- 
posed, he threw the whole force of his influence against 
it. 

Neither side has left us in doubt about their argu- 
ments and reasons. The Assembly passed unanimously 
twenty-five resolutions abusing the proprietorship in 
every form that language could devise, and throwing 
upon it the blame of all the wars and every other evil 
that had ever happened to the province. Then they 
adjourned, March 20, to consult their constituents. 
Public meetings were held, petitions circulated for 
signatures, and Franklin published his pamphlet, " Cool 

261 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Thoughts." They met again May 14. There was a 
great debate ; and the leaders delivered themselves of 
elaborate speeches which were afterward published. 

Dickinson admitted, with great frankness, all the 
evils of injustice and misgovernment that were charged 
against the proprietors. It would be a great relief, he 
said, to be rid of them, and a change was greatly to be 
desired when the proper time should come. But the 
time had not come. The proprietary system was bad, 
but a royal government would be worse. The colony 
had by its charter valuable rights and privileges which 
it still held unimpaired. It had a system of religious 
liberty so perfect that emigrants had flocked to it, not 
only from England, but from several countries of Europe. 
Its commerce was free and untaxed. The Assembly 
controlled their own adjournments, were chosen annu- 
ally, had the sole power of raising and disposing of the 
public money, and the people had the right to elect 
sheriffs and coroners. If the colony were surrendered 
to the crown, every one of these privileges, now firmly 
established by the struggles of eighty years, might be 
lost. 

The ministry of the day, he said, were not favorable 
to Pennsylvania. Complaints had been sent to England 
that the .Quakers had refused to vote supplies for his 
Majesty's forces when they were fighting the French 
and Indians. The recent border riots of the Scotch- 
Irish had been blamed on the Quakers, and also on 
the Presbyterians. Accusations against dissenters were 
readily listened to at court; and if the king and ministry 
should decide to take the colony into their own hands, 
they might also decide to establish the Church of 

262 



The Attempt to Abolish the Proprietorship 

England by law, disfranchise the Quakers and Presby- 
terians, and deprive the province of many privileges. 

The proposed plan of surrender to the crown pro- 
vided expressly that the Penn heirs should be paid the 
full value of all the rights and franchises that were taken 
from them. But nothing was said about the rights and 
privileges of the colonists. They were left to chance 
and the good pleasure of the ministry and king. The 
plan was an excellent one for the Penn heirs; they 
could lose nothing. But the colonists might lose 
everything. 

The most elaborate reply to Dickinson's speech was 
made by Joseph Galloway, and published with a 
preface by Franklin. Galloway, like Dickinson, was 
a native of Maryland, and came to Philadelphia when 
a young man to enjoy the opportunities offered by the 
practice of the law. When his property was confis- 
cated in the Revolution, it was said to have been worth 
£40,000, which in present values was equivalent to 
over half a million dollars, -and is another instance 
of the ease with which fortunes were acquired. His 
reputation has suffered from his Toryism. Severe 
charges were made against him by Dickinson. But 
as he is one of the neglected characters of Pennsyl- 
vania history and we know little about him, these 
charges stand neither proved nor disproved. Beyond 
this he appears to have been an accomplished man, 
somewhat given to religious speculations, a friend of 
Franklin and Allen, and possessed of the usual country- 
seat. 

His speech against Dickinson was, however, a very 
weak one. It was absurd, he said, to suppose that 

263 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

the crown would deprive a colony of its liberties. If 
the present ministry were to attempt such an unpopular 
act, it would give a great opportunity to the party 
opposed to them. It would be bad policy for them- 
selves and bad policy for England. There were plans 
on foot for founding new colonies, which depended for 
their success on large numbers of emigrants, who could 
be persuaded to go only by the promise of free institu- 
tions. Such schemes would receive a severe check, or 
be frustrated entirely, if an old colony like Pennsylvania 
were deprived of its privileges. He went on in this 
way, spending pages and pages in fulsome eulogy of 
the king, in the hope of showing that such a good man 
would never harm Pennsylvania ; and he was almost 
equally profuse in declaring the righteousness and 
friendliness of Parliament. But the king whom he 
eulogized was George the Third ; and the Parliament 
in which he had so much confidence was at that 
moment preparing plans to tax all America, and a few 
months afterward passed the Stamp Act which brought 
on the Revolution. 

Franklin also had many arguments to make in his 
" Cool Thoughts " and in the preface to Galloway's 
speech. He made fun of the proprietors, and was 
liberal with witticisms and wise sayings in his most 
inimitable manner. But his reasoning was extraor- 
dinary. He asserted that the colonies, like Massa- 
chusetts, the Jerseys, and the Carolinas, which had 
been changed to royal governments, had been bene^ 
fited by the change. This was contrary to the general 
opinion in those colonies, and is unsupported by history. 
The annoyance from the petty meanness of the Penns 

264 



The Attempt to Abolish the Proprietorship 

was nothing compared to the tyranny Virginia and 
Massachusetts had suffered from the king. Moreover, 
the Penns had been conquered and their schemes all 
defeated, which was more than any royal colony had 
been able to do with the plans of the crown. In 
the face of all the news that was coming from Eng- 
land of the disposition of ministry and Parliament, 
Franklin was still willing to say of the liberties of 
Pennsylvania: — 

"There is therefore nothing now that can deprive us of 
those privileges, but an act of Parliament ; and we may rely 
on the united justice of King, Lords and Commons that no 
such act will ever pass, while we continue loyal and dutiful 
subjects." 

That the mass of the people should have swallowed 
such an assertion is not so surprising. We know, from 
many sources, that in the year 1764 they were very 
loyal and ready to trust almost implicitly in the 
mother-country. But such a shrewd man as Franklin 
should have been more foreseeing. The letters of 
Philadelphians written that spring show that all the 
movements in England were well known. Dickinson 
was clear-sighted enough to see the end. He called 
attention to the recent Acts of Parliament, and warned 
his hearers that the ministry were regulating the new 
colonies, and " designing the strictest reformations in 
the old." The events of the next ten years amply ful- 
filled his prophecy. 

The reason, the logic, and the statesmanship of the 
situation were with Dickinson. But the feelings of the 
people were stronger than any of these. They had 

265 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

gained so many successes against the proprietors that, 
being relieved of both the French War and the Indian 
War, they lost their heads and were determined to rid 
themselves of the apron-strings of feudalism, even if 
the attempt should prove their ruin. The Assembly 
passed the petition in favor of a change by a vote of 
twenty-seven to three. At the last moment the vener- 
able Speaker, Isaac Norn's, resigned, rather than sign 
such a document. He believed the change to royal 
government might some day safely be made. But the 
present moment was too dangerous. Franklin, who 
had no scruples, was immediately elected to his place. 

The following October was the time of the general 
election, and the question was fought over anew with 
great excitement. Franklin and Galloway were candi- 
dates on the old ticket, as it was called, and were 
defeated ; but the popular verdict was in favor of the 
petition ; and no sooner had the Assembly met than 
they appointed Franklin to be the agent to convey that 
petition to England, and advocate its cause before the 
crown and ministry. 

Immediately Dickinson and the proprietary party 
arose to oppose with all their strength such an appoint- 
ment. The selection was most unfortunate. The man 
to be sent was detested alike by proprietors and crown ; 
had been just rejected by his constituents; and remon- 
strances against him were pouring into the Assembly 
from all sorts of citizens. Was he likely to be able to 
make with the ministry a bargain which would preserve 
the liberties of the province? He was undoubtedly a 
great luminary of the learned world. " Let him still 
shine, but without wrapping his country in flames." 

266 



The Attempt to Abolish the Proprietorship 

Nevertheless the luminary started on his mission, 
having first written a Protest for his enemies to read, 
and some letters destined to follow the English language 
through the ages for their force of expression and per- 
fection of taste. The torrents of abuse, like others which 
had preceded them, only deepened his philosophy. 

And what was the outcome of it all in England? The 
petition was presented, but never acted upon. The 
Assembly soon became a little uneasy, and sent word 
to Franklin not to press the petition if it would en- 
danger the province's liberties ; and apparently he did 
not urge it very strongly. He arrived in December, 
1764, and found the whole country talking of nothing 
but the Stamp Act. He was soon made agent for all 
the colonies, and his great career as a diplomatist began. 
He may have been convinced that the time was inop- 
portune for the change to royal government. Either 
that, or the rush of events and excitements of the next 
ten years, saved Pennsylvania from the results of what 
seems to have been a very unwise and hasty impulse. 



267 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 



CHAPTER XX 

LIFE AND MANNERS AT THE TIME OF THE REVOLUTION 

If it be true that a man is known by the house he 
lives in and the hat he wears, the colonial Pennsylvani- 
ans must have been people of very substantial character. 
It is, perhaps, beneath the dignity of history to enlarge 
on the subject of hats. But those who have seen the 
Quaker hat know that there is nothing frivolous about 
it. The architecture was equally characteristic. 

The province was fortunate in possessing varied and 
abundant building material. Many parts of the State, 
and especially Philadelphia and its neighborhood, were 
largely underlaid with beds of yellow clay, from which 
excellent bricks were made. The city from the begin- 
ning was built of brick, which gave it a substantial and 
permanent appearance, in striking contrast to the wooden 
houses of some of the other colonies. There were 
several varieties of building stone which could be easily 
and cheaply worked. The farmhouses and the country 
residences near Philadelphia were usually built of this 
material. Many of these buildings are still standing, 
some of them more than a hundred and fifty years old. 
They give us an idea of the colonial life which can be 
obtained in no other way ; and the best method of ac- 
quiring a distinct impression of that life is by visiting 
these old houses, and studying the pictures of those 

268 



Life and Manners at the Time of the Revolution 

which no longer exist in the excellent collections in the 
Philadelphia Library and the Historical Society. 

The architecture is in strong, simple lines, somewhat 
richer and less cold than the wooden architecture of the 
same period in New England. There are seldom any 
wings, nooks, or oddities. There is some severe orna- 
mentation attained in frieze, cornice, and moulding; 
and columns and pilasters are often added. But the 
proportion of parts is excellent, and is the merit of the 
type. Prosperity and abundance, ease and contentment, 
are shown in every line, and reveal the real history and 
life of the people better than volumes of writing. 

The construction of the buildings was of the most 
skilful and thorough kind. The mortar became harder 
than the stone. Those colonists built for time and eter- 
nity. There seems to be no limit to the life of these 
buildings ; and when one of them has to be taken down 
in modern times, it is like quarrying in solid rock. 

The school to which this architecture belongs is that 
of Sir Christopher Wren ; and St. Paul's Cathedral and 
the Duke of Devonshire's country-seat, Chatsworth, are 
the most conspicuous examples of the type in England. 
The American development of it, though on a smaller 
scale, is generally admitted to have been in no sense 
inferior. In none of the colonies was it to be found in 
such completeness and excellence as at Philadelphia. 
Our public buildings of colonial times — the Pennsylva- 
nian Hospital, Christ Church, Carpenter's Hall, and In- 
dependence Hall — are unequalled anywhere in America. 
Old Christ Church is said to be the finest specimen of 
colonial art now in existence. Architects come from 
other States to measure and study its proportions. 

269 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

But the special pride of Pennsylvania colonial archi- 
tecture is the country-seat. Those that still survive, 
like the Woodlands, Belmont, Stenton, Mount Pleasant, 
Cliveden, and others scattered along the shores of the 
rivers, or on the water-shed which extends through 
Germantown to Chestnut Hill, are all built of stone or 
brick, surrounded with ample grounds, and show in their 
construction that they were created by a people who 
had the means and the taste to enjoy life. They have 
no competitors except perhaps among the few remain- 
ing halls of the old Virginia aristocracy on the James. 

The German architecture, which in point of con- 
struction was fully as solid and enduring as the English, 
deserves some mention. Excellent specimens of it are 
still to be found in Germantown and at Bethlehem and 
Ephrata. It is said to be of the Swabian and South- 
German type. It is plainer than the English ; the 
houses are lower, with steeper roofs, and often have a 
curious shingled projection above the first story called 
a pent-eve. At Ephrata the type becomes very ex- 
treme, with enormous steep roofs and curious little 
windows. 

The colonial country-places were the result of a 
prosperity and wealth, which, though rapidly attained, 
was on the whole expended without vulgarity or ex- 
travagance. The fashion of having a town residence 
and country residence, a rather unusual indulgence for 
colonial life, began very early in Philadelphia. William 
Perm set the example. Before the colony was five 
years old he had provided for himself a town-house 
and a country-seat, and had made arrangements to be 
carried between the two in a fine barge with oarsmen. 

270 



Life and Manners at the Time of the Revolution 

The men who could afford such enjoyments were 
usually the commercial class, — merchant mariners, as 
they were sometimes called, — and the distinguished 
lawyers who created the early fame of the Philadelphia 
bar. The merchants usually owned the vessels which 
carried their cargoes, and sometimes went as captains 
of them. Many of those who were exclusively occupied 
with the merchant's business on shore had been prac- 
tical seamen in their youth. It was a common practice 
at one time to sell both vessel and cargo in a European 
port. Privateering in the numerous wars with France 
and Spain was a regular part' of the merchant's calling. 
A list of the private armed ships, with their significant 
names, which have been built at Philadelphia, would 
be a long one. For nearly a hundred years, from far 
back in the colonial period until after the War of 1812, 
the most characteristic Philadelphia scene to show a 
stranger was the building or fitting out of a privateers- 
man at the wharves. A relic of this old life still remains 
in the numerous cannon now used to mark the corners 
of streets along the river-front. 

It was a life that produced an accomplished and 
interesting type of man. The familiarity with foreign 
trade and foreign countries begat a liberality of thought. 
The speculative character of the business and the 
numerous risks to fortune and life developed courage, 
generous feelings, and not a little of unselfish patriotism. 
It was this school that bred Robert Morris, the financier 
of the Revolution, who was ready at any time with a 
smile and a jest to turn over to General Washington the 
cargoes of his ships. 

One of the most striking and peculiar men of this 

271 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

class was John Macpherson, a Scotchman, and owner 
of the country-seat Mount Pleasant, which is now pre- 
served within Fairmount Park. Like many others of 
the old commercial aristocracy, his origin is obscure, 
and it is not known when he came from Scotland. He 
traded, bought and sold ships, and commanded the 
privateersman " Britannia," on whose deck, in a fierce 
conflict with a Frenchman, he lost his right arm. John 
Adams of Massachusetts dined with him at Mount 
Pleasant, and described the place, as well as the wife 
and pretty daughters of its owner. Like other Phila- 
delphia's, he dabbled in science, delivered lectures 
on astronomy, and invented machinery for moving 
buildings. 

Cliveden, the seat of Chief Justice Chew, and the 
Woodlands and Bush Hill, the homes of the Hamilton 
family, were instances of the wealth and life of the 
lawyers. Stenton, the home of James Logan and his 
descendants, was an instance of the success of a com- 
mercial Quaker, who was secretary of the province, a 
believer in war, and a lover of books. Stenton is still 
standing, but stripped of all its outhouses, shrubbery, 
and gardens, which once made it so attractive to the 
British officers. It had its own graveyard, and a 
curious underground passage to the stables, like the 
priest's escape in English country-houses. This 
passage was for protection against the Indians, and 
similar ways have been found in other old houses in 
Pennsylvania. 

The landscape-gardening round the country-places 
was quite remarkable, and seems to have been a repro- 
duction of the best of that art in England. It is a lost 

272 



Life and Manners at the Time of the Revolution 

art now in Pennsylvania, and none of the modern resi- 
dences equal in this respect the colonial country-seats. 
It survived, however, for a long time ; and as late as 
1830, Philadelphia was still described as having more 
beautiful country-seats than any other city in America. 
We might mention other colonial country-seats, like 
the Hills, the home of Robert Morris, to which he was 
devotedly attached, and which he at last had to exchange 
for a debtor's prison. There is a description of Fair 
Hill, the home of the Norris family, written by Mrs. 
Deborah Logan, part of which may be quoted, not 
only for what it describes, but because it shows the 
style and feeling of a Quaker who was herself a typical 
product of colonial life : — 

"Fairhill, built by Isaac Norris upon the same plan as 
Dolobran (a seat from long antiquity possessed by the Lloyd 
family in Montgomeryshire, North Wales), at least as to the 
ground floor, was finished in 171 7, and was at that time the 
most beautiful seat in Pennsylvania. The sashes for the win- 
dows and much of the best work were imported from England. 
The entrance was into a hall paved with black and white 
marble, two large parlors on each side, and an excellent stair- 
case, well lighted. The courts and gardens were in the taste of 
those times, with gravel walks and parterres. Many lofty trees 
were preserved round the house, which added greatly to its 
beauty, and, at the time of my remembrance, the outbuildings 
were covered with festoons of ivy and scarlet bignonia. Isaac 
Norris had been very prosperous in trade, which at that period 
offered uncommon facilities. His son Isaac Norris the 
Speaker succeeded his father in the possession of Fairhill, as 
he did in his talents, abilities, and public usefulness. As he 
was learned and fond of literature, he collected together a 
18 273 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

very good and extensive library. It was placed in a low build- 
ing, consisting of several rooms, in the garden, and was a most 
delightful retreat for contemplative study; the windows 
curtained with ivy ; the sound of < bees' industrious murmur ' 
from a glass hive which had a communication from without, 
and where their wonderful instinct could be viewed. Beauti- 
ful specimens of the fine arts and many curiosities were also 
collected there, the shelves were filled with the best authors, 
and materials for writing and drawing at hand. In this place 
Isaac Norris the Speaker spent all the time that his health 
would permit which was not devoted to public business." 

At Belmont, just north of Lansdowne, lived Judge 
Peters, who for many years presided over the United 
States District Court in the early days of the Republic. 
He had planted and improved Belmont until it was a 
delightful spot. He had that genial humor, ease of 
manner, and fund of anecdote which old lawyers often 
acquire. This, added to his intelligence and ability, 
made him a much-sought companion in the society of 
that time. Washington was very fond of him, and 
when he lived in Philadelphia would often slip out to 
Belmont to enjoy a quiet talk with its owner and walk 
up and down the famous avenue of hemlocks. There 
was a large Spanish chestnut-tree on the grounds long 
afterward carefully preserved by the family because it 
had been planted by Washington. 

In fact, it is impossible to look very long at the ruins 
of these old houses without seeming to see one of the 
fathers of the Republic, in his cocked hat and knee- 
breeches, step up and lay his hand on the door. The 
old yellow stable at the Woodlands, even in its decay, 
looks as if Washington's saddle-horse might be led out 

274 



Life and Manners at the Time of the Revolution 

of it at any moment. From Bartram's modest little 
house up to the grand establishment at Lansdowne, 
there is scarcely a single one of these houses, scattered 
in a half-circle round Philadelphia from the Delaware 
to the Schuylkill, in which Washington, Jefferson, 
Adams, Madison, and the distinguished generals of the 
Revolution have not dined and sipped their Madeira 
over and over again. 

One of these worthies, John Adams, has left us in his 
diary some account of this life, which he seems to have 
enjoyed to the utmost. It was in 1774, when he was 
thirty- eight years old and a delegate to the Continental 
Congress which was to discuss the question of inde- 
pendence. The first important dinner which he men- 
tions was at the house of Miers Fisher, a young Quaker 
and a prominent lawyer. 

"We saw his library," he says, "which is clever. But this 
plain Friend and his plain though pretty wife, with her Thees 
and Thous, had provided us the most costly entertainment ; 
ducks, hams, chickens, beef, pig, tarts, creams, custards, jellies, 
fools, trifles, floating islands, beer, porter, punch, wine, and a 
long &c." 

The Quakers, it may be said in passing, while they 
forbade in their discipline all indulgence in sport, music, 
and the fine arts, were never known to do anything that 
would interfere with the art of dining. 

Soon afterward Adams found himself at Cliveden, 
the home of Chief Justice Chew. 

"We were shown into a grand entry and stair case, and 
into an elegant and most magnificent chamber until dinner. 
About four o'clock we were called down to dinner. The 
furniture was all rich. Turtle and every other thing, flummery, 

275 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

jellies, sweatmeats of twenty sorts, trifles, whipped sillabubs, 
floating islands, fools &c. and a dessert of fruits, raisins, 
almonds, pears, peaches. Wines most excellent and admirable. 
I drank Madeira at a great rate, and found no inconvenience 
in it." (Works, ii. 381.) 

In another place he says, " A most splendid feast 
again — turtle and everything else; " and in still another 
passage, " A mighty feast again ; nothing less than the 
very best of claret, Madeira and Burgundy; melons 
fine beyond description, and pears and peaches as 
excellent." 

" A most sinful feast again ! everything which could delight 
the eye or allure the taste ; curds and creams, jellies, sweet- 
meats of various sorts, twenty sorts of tarts, fools, trifles, 
floating islands, whipped sillabubs &c. &c. Parmesan cheese, 
punch, wine, porter, beer &c. At evening we climbed up the 
steeple of Christ Church with Mr. Reed, from whence we had 
a clear and full view of the whole city and of Delaware 
River." (Works, ii. 370.) 

From other diaries we gather additional glimpses of 
the life of plainer people. On considering these diaries 
as a whole, the most striking characteristic which runs 
through them all is the one already touched upon, — 
good markets, good living, extreme sociability, and 
ease of life. Hiltzheimer's diary is conspicuous in 
this respect, and is largely a record of those " mighty 
feasts " which made such an impression on Adams. 
Punch-drinking, beefsteaks and ale taken in true Saxon 
fashion at the city tavern, more elaborate dinners of 
friends at various houses and country-places, are 
mingled with his public business and the needs of his 

276 



Life and Manners at the Time of the Revolution 

mares and cattle. He was a great fox-hunter, and his 
diary shows that there was a great deal of fox-hunting 
in the neighborhood of Philadelphia. On the 12th of 
December, 1767, he and his friends let loose a fox at 
Center Woods, which is now the intersection of Broad 
and Market streets, the site of the City Hall. 

After the Revolution, when Philadelphia became the 
seat of government and the metropolis of the country, 
luxury and even extravagance became quite conspicu- 
ous. The Duke de la Rochefoucault-Liancourt, who 
was in America from 1795 to 1797, was much impressed 
by it. 

" The profusion and luxury of Philadelphia on great days 
at the tables of the wealthy, in their equipages and in the 
dresses of their wives and daughters, are, as I have observed, 
extreme. I have seen balls on the President's birthday where 
the splendor of the rooms and the variety and richness of the 
dresses do not suffer in comparison with Europe ; and it must 
be acknowledged that the beauty of the American ladies has 
the advantage in comparison. The young women of Philadel- 
phia are accomplished in different degrees, but beauty is 
general with them. They want the ease and fashion of French 
women, but the brilliancy of their complexion is infinitely 
superior." 

The Prince de Broglie, who was in Philadelphia in 
1782, saw at least one instance of quieter scenes. 

"On the 13th of August, 1782,1 arrived at Philadelphia, 
the already celebrated capital of quite a new country. M. de 
la Luzerne took me to tea at Mrs. Morris', wife of the Sec- 
retary of the Treasury of the United States. Her house is 
small, but well ordered and neat ; the doors and tables of 

277 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

superb, well- polished mahogany ; the locks and andirons of 
polished brass ; the cups arranged symmetrically ; the mistress 
of the house good looking and very gray. All was charming 
to me. I took some of the excellent tea and would have 
taken more I think, if the ambassador (M. de la Luzerne) 
had not kindly warned me at the twelfth cup that I must 
put my spoon across my cup when I wished to bring this 
warm water question to an end." 

The commercial interest of Philadelphia is of course 
strongly shown in the diaries. The attention of modern 
Philadelphians is directed inland. They look to the 
railroads for everything, and by railroads are their 
wants supplied. But the attention of the colonists was 
toward the river and the bay. Nearly everything ar- 
rived and went that way. Their important letters and 
their important goods came from England or went 
there. The captains were the express agents and the 
mail-carriers. They carried little presents and packages 
to and fro. On the arrival of their ship half the town 
would besiege her to get the letters, until, weary of his 
crowd of tormentors, the captain would send all the 
letters ashore to be distributed at the coffee-house. 

It was a common practice when people departed for 
England for some of their friends to accompany them 
as far as the capes. Passengers often went by land as 
far as New Castle, where they joined the ship. Often 
they were wind-bound and lay for days, or even weeks, 
at Reedy Island, waiting for a chance to put to sea. In 
returning, the ship was often so slow in beating up the 
river, that their friends found it convenient to go down 
and get them in a small boat. 

Ocean travel was not then a few days of luxury with 

278 



% 

Life and Manners at the Time of the Revolution 

electric lights and sea chairs. Ships from England, in 
order to avoid the Gulf Stream, usually sailed south to 
the Madeira Islands, where fruit and fresh provisions 
were taken aboard ; and thence the vessel was borne by 
the trade-winds to the coast of the southern colonies, 
which was followed up to the capes of the Delaware. 
Franklin describes his return from a mission to Eng- 
land by one of these voyages, which lasted nine weeks. 
Yet it was not without its compensations. He read 
many books, made experiments in science, and thought 
out problems in navigation. His ship was with a large 
fleet of merchantmen under convoy of a man-of-war. 

"The weather was so favorable," he says, " that there were 
few days in which we could not visit from ship to ship, 
dining with each other, and on board the man of war." 

The arrival of an East Indiaman was an affair of 
great importance to the town, and such vessels usually 
fired a salute as they entered the harbor. There were 
regular lines of packets to the northern and southern 
colonies, and also to England. The vessels to England 
were large and brought many emigrants. Marshall 
speaks in his diary of ships arriving with as many as 
six hundred passengers. The voyage was usually from 
thirty to fifty days. 

The gayety and enjoyment of life in Philadelphia was 
fully indulged in by the Quakers, and they were famous 
for their good living. We must not judge of them 
between the year 1700 and the Revolution by what 
they were before or by what they are now. They had 
created the colony, were governing it in their own way, 
and were proud and conscious of their success. They 

279 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

were very much alive, and were taking a large part in 
the life of their time. Hiltzheimer's horse-racing, fox- 
hunting, punch-drinking, and city-governing friends 
were three fourths of them Quakers; and all of them 
were substantial citizens, better in every respect for 
their sympathy with the good things of life. 

Stephen Collins is described by John Adams as a 
man of " figure and eminence as well as fortune," in 
Philadelphia, and though a Quaker " not stiff nor rigid." 
Adams often dined at his house, and declared that he 
never knew a more agreeable instance of hospitality. 
Indeed, it would be long to tell of the households and 
establishments of Mifflin, Dickinson, Norris, and other 
distinguished Quakers, and of the liberal manner in 
which they entertained the members of the Continental 
Congress in the early years of the Revolution. 

The colonists were a happy and an honorable people. 
They were successful and rich. But they were not 
slaves to money. Most of them retired from business 
when they had secured a moderate fortune. Logan, 
Dickinson, and Norris, retired while comparatively 
young. Franklin retired at the age of forty-two, when 
he had laid by capital enough to produce about $3,000 a 
year. In purchasing power this was equivalent to about 
$10,000 or $12,000 of our money. It was not in any 
sense a large fortune ; but it was the fashion to be content 
with such prosperity. 

In modern times a man in Franklin's position would 
go on accumulating, thinking that it was his surest road 
to position or power; but in the colonial era there was 
little to be gained from such a course. A man was 
more likely to become both popular and powerful by 

280 



Life and Manners at the Time of the Revolution 

retiring; for these retired men were usually selected for 
public office and honors. Franklin, with his great ability 
for all kinds of business, could easily have gone on 
accumulating, and at the end of his life been a very rich 
man, but the world would have been poorer. He retired 
to devote himself more seriously to science, and was 
taken by his country for diplomacy. 

The Philadelphia in which the colonists enjoyed 
themselves was as different from the modern city as 
those colonists were different from the present citizens. 
Penn had intended the streets to be well planted with 
trees and every house to be surrounded with a garden. 
He had planned, as he had expressed it, " a green country 
town ;" one of those towns with which the Quakers were 
very familiar in the rural districts of England. His 
ideas were carried out ; and far down into the present 
century Philadelphia was still remarkable for the 
number of trees in the streets. Before the Revolution 
and for some time afterward many of the houses stood 
far apart with gardens round them. Those busy 
thoroughfares, Fourth and Third streets, then contained 
many such homes surrounded with lawns and trees. 
Franklin's home was at one time on Second Street, near 
Race, and his garden extended to the river-bank, where 
in summer evenings he enjoyed his favorite amusement 
of swimming, remaining, he tells us, a long time 
" sporting in the water," and retiring to bed cool and 
refreshed. 

Before Philadelphia was paved, narrow lines of flag- 
stones were placed down the middle of each sidewalk 
and the gutters marked by rows of posts, about four 
feet high with rounded tops. Posts of this sort were 

281 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

still used to ornament certain parts of the city as late 
as the middle of the present century. The street pump 
was also a conspicuous landmark ; and in some streets 
they appear to have been placed at regular intervals to 
help put out fires. The market-place had its whipping- 
post, pillory, and stocks ; and women were often publicly 
whipped down to the time of the Revolution. The men 
who moved among these scenes would seem very strik- 
ing and peculiar to our eyes, with their knee-breeches, 
low shoes, bright-colored coats, and powdered wigs 
surmounted with three-cornered hats. 

One of the objects most familiar to them still survives 
in Christ Church. It was almost as old as the colony. 
Long before Independence Hall and other famous 
buildings had been thought of, the people had grown 
accustomed to the old church, and it seems to have been 
of more interest to them than any other building. 
When its chime of bells arrived in 1754, they were rung 
daily for some time to please the citizens ; and for many 
years they were always rung on the evening before 
market day, to amuse the countrymen who had come to 
town. The interest of all the colonists of every sect in 
these bells seems rather curious. Probably the music 
reminded many of them of their old life in Germany or 
England. They were the second set of chimes in Amer- 
ica, and seem for a long time to have supplied the place 
of opera and theatre. Captain Budden, who brought 
them out in the ship " Myrtilla," charged no freight, and 
the workmen who came from England to put them up 
would accept no pay. Ever after, it is said, when 
Captain Budden's ship arrived in the harbor, the bells 
were rung. They were rung on every public occasion, 

282 



Life and Manners at the Time of the Revolution 

important or trifling, whether it was the arrival of the 
favorite captain or the repeal of an obnoxious law. 
For defeat in battle and the death of distinguished men 
they were muffled. They were the voice of the people. 

Franklin was sent to England in 1764, carrying the 
petition to the crown for the abolition of the proprietor- 
ship. As soon as his arrival after a thirty days' voyage 
was known, the bells rang out clear and sparkling for 
the safety of the old philosopher whom the people 
alternately loved and abused. Some months afterward 
the Stamp Act was passed, and Franklin declared that 
he could no more have prevented it than he could have 
hindered the setting of the sun, and he took pains to 
have his old friend John Hughes appointed stamp- 
master for Pennsylvania. But the Philadelphians 
thought differently; and when the commission for the 
stamp-master arrived, their philosopher was in disgrace. 
The bells were muffled for him; and for hours their dull 
thuds resounded over the little town, more expressive of 
the people's discontent than the tongues of many 
orators. 

The early events of the Revolution kept them busy ; 
but when it became evident that the British would 
occupy Philadelphia, they were carefully taken down 
and carried to Bethlehem to be out of harm's way. 
Beneath their sounds Washington, Adams, Jefferson, 
and all the distinguished men of the Revolution, with- 
out regard to creed, have worshipped; and the whole 
Continental Congress assembled beneath them on July 
20, 1775, the dav appointed for fasting and prayer. 

283 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 



CHAPTER XXI 

THE RISE OF THE REVOLUTION 

THERE is no doubt that Massachusetts and Virginia 
were the most active of all the colonies in forcing on 
the movement for independence. Which of the two 
was the more effective would be difficult to say. The 
Massachusetts people seem to have entertained the idea 
of independence some time before the Virginians, and 
were more clamorous about it, partly because they suf- 
fered more. The British government, believing them to 
be the most unruly, had selected them as an example; 
had sent regiments to occupy their principal town, fleets 
to blockade their harbor, and had passed Acts to change 
their government, long before any attempt was made 
to interfere with any of the other colonies. 

The New England colonies of New Hampshire, 
Rhode Island, and Connecticut were very much under 
the influence of Massachusetts, and followed her lead. 
In the other colonies, except Virginia, the people were 
for the most part in favor of nothing more than a 
redress of grievances. Independence they looked upon 
as an almost impossible, or at any rate, a last resort. 
This view prevailed to a considerable extent even in 
Virginia, but it was strongest in the middle colonies, 
especially Pennsylvania and New York. Massachusetts, 
however, intended independence from the very beginning. 

284 



The Rise of the Revolution 

The reason for the more aggressive attitude of 
Massachusetts and Virginia is to be found in the events 
of their histories. The Puritans who settled Massachu- 
setts Bay were a very united and a very peculiar people. 
They had definite ideas on religion and government 
which they had no hope of seeing carried out in the 
old world ; and when they came to America, they in- 
tended to keep house for themselves. Their charter 
was extremely liberal ; and for fifty years they enjoyed 
what was for all practical purposes absolute independ- 
ence. They elected their own governor and all other 
officers ; they made their own laws, and were not 
obliged to submit them to England for approval. 
They dropped the English oath of allegiance, and 
adopted a new oath, in which public officers and all 
the inhabitants swore allegiance to Massachusetts 
alone. Any one who refused to take this oath was 
banished or disqualified from holding office. They 
took upon themselves the sovereign attribute of coin- 
ing their own money, and issued the famous pine-tree 
shillings. No appeals were allowed to the king or to 
the English courts. It was treason even to speak of 
them. By their definition of treason the king himself 
would have been guilty of it if he had attempted to 
interfere with Massachusetts. 

But with the restoration of Charles II. in 1660, a 
definite colonial policy was adopted. Massachusetts' 
pretensions to independence were known, and demands 
were made for the surrender of her charter ; but it was 
not finally cancelled until 1684. From that time Mas- 
sachusetts was under royal government and suffered 
more annoyance than was ever inflicted by the pro- 

285 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

prietors on Pennsylvania. When William III. came to 
the throne there was a rebellion in Massachusetts which 
restored for a short time the old order of things ; but 
royal government was almost immediately restored 
under a charter from the crown, which abolished every- 
thing that was dear to the Puritan heart. 

With such a history, having enjoyed all the sweets of 
absolute liberty for fifty years, having lost them, having 
gained them again by a rebellion, and having lost them 
again, it is easy to see that Massachusetts had a training 
which gave her a greater thirst for independence than 
was to be found in Pennsylvania or any other colony. 
When the movement for the Revolution began, Massa- 
chusetts needed no encouragement. She was in it 
already, and she grasped at the idea of independence 
before the others had thought of it. 

Virginia was somewhat in the same state of mind. 
She did not begin with independence, like Massachusetts, 
but she gradually acquired it. In 1631 her House of 
Burgesses declared that the governor could neither 
raise money nor levy war except by their consent; 
and two years after they deposed the governor and 
appointed another. When Cromwell came into power 
Virginia made an agreement with him which is more 
like a treaty between two independent nations than the 
surrender of a colony. Free trade to all parts of the 
world is guaranteed, and no customs or taxes are to be 
levied, and no forts maintained in the colony, without 
the consent of its General Assembly. After the Resto- 
ration, when the royalists were in control, the people 
rebelled, and under the lead of Nathaniel Bacon over- 
threw the royalists' party and got complete control for 

286 



The Rise of the Revolution 

a time of the colony. But after this rebellion was 
crushed, Virginia, like Massachusetts, was held down 
with an iron hand. The Virginians, like Massachusetts, 
had enjoyed the blessings of liberty, had had it taken 
away from them, had rebelled to regain it, and had lost 
it again. 

The training of both these colonies for the final 
event of the Revolution had been very different from that 
of Pennsylvania. The Quaker State had been founded 
in the time of Charles II., when the stringent policy of 
colonial control had been adopted, and she had been 
held down by the double power of proprietor and king. 
Yet in spite of this control her charter had been so 
liberal and her prosperity so great that she had never 
suffered from tyranny. She was doubly controlled, and 
yet she suffered none of the inconveniences of control. 
She had no independence, but she had very liberal and 
easy laws. She was not accustomed, like Massachusetts 
and Virginia, to associate ease and prosperity with the 
idea of independence. She had never been afflicted 
with any of the interferences which had goaded those 
two commonwealths to desperation. She had never 
been trained into a violent temper by having enjoyed 
absolute independence at one time and having endured 
absolute tyranny at another. 

Among the other colonies some, like Connecticut, 
New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, were under the 
leadership of Massachusetts. The southern colonies, 
Maryland, Georgia, and the Carolinas, were for redress 
of grievances rather than independence; and the middle 
colonies. Delaware, New Jersey, and New York, were 
also for a mere redress of grievances. New York was 

287 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

strongly Tory and the least inclined of all the colonies 
to enter the Revolution. But New York, as well as 
Delaware and New Jersey, would be much influenced 
by the action of Pennsylvania, which, after Massachu- 
setts and Virginia, was the most populous and powerful 
colony. In fact, Pennsylvania was the leader of the 
conservative element. What the middle colonies would 
do depended largely on her. Massachusetts and Vir- 
ginia, if they wished to carry out their extreme views, 
must win Pennsylvania to them ; and this was the 
beginning of those events which in the next fifty years 
gave our State the name of Keystone. 

The greater part of Pennsylvania's population was 
not of the sort that goes into a revolution hastily. The 
Scotch-Irish were of course in favor of the Revolution 
from the very first suggestion of it. They had been 
nourished on such events, and their appetite was still 
keen. But they were far removed from the seat of 
government, and until actual fighting began, their 
influence was slight. The eastern Presbyterians had 
also considerable ardor, but were more or less con- 
servative. 

The Quakers, so far as concerned redress of griev- 
ances and peaceful measures of opposition, were second 
to none. No sect or division of the English race was 
more deeply imbued with a love of liberty and a com- 
plete understanding of its principles. Their history in 
England and their conduct in framing the government 
of Pennsylvania and resisting the proprietors shows this 
abundantly. They were inclined, however, to pursue 
liberty in their own way ; and as the movement passed 
from constitutional opposition against stamp acts and 

288 



The Rise of the Revolution 

tea acts to acts of violence and war, there was a strong 
tendency among them to drop out of it. 

The Germans in the early stages of the Revolution 
were rather indifferent to it. Many of them were so 
unfamiliar with the English language and English 
customs that they could scarcely comprehend the 
points of the dispute. They were aware, however, that 
evil and tyranny of some kind were threatened, and 
they relied for guidance on the Quakers, who had 
brought them to Pennsylvania and given them a home 
and liberty. It was, therefore, all the more important 
that the Quakers should join the Revolution. 

When it came to actual fighting, the sects like the 
Mennonites, Tunkers, and others, which held the same 
opinions about war as the strict Quakers, assumed the 
same neutral position. Some of them left the country 
after the Revolution, refusing to live under a govern- 
ment established by force. But the greater part of 
the Germans belonged to the Lutheran and Reformed 
churches. They had no particular objection to sol- 
diering, and, though they took no very conspicuous 
part in the contest, may be said to have done their 
share, and furnished Muhlenberg, who was an able 
general. 

The Episcopal element was also rather conservative. 
Many of its clergy were Tories. Some of them, how- 
ever, were in a state of mind favorable to the Revolu- 
tion, but unwilling to take an active part in it. The 
laity were more zealous for the cause, but were very 
much influenced by their liking for the proprietors and 
their connection with the established government of the 
province. 

19 289 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

As a conservative, Pennsylvania was first in the field 
for a redress of grievances, and the first adequate ex- 
pression of the colonial position was made by one of 
her citizens, and he was a Quaker. The " Farmer's 
Letters," by John Dickinson, were a wonderful success. 
They first appeared in December, 1767, when the serious 
interferences of the British government had been in agi- 
tation for about three years. During that time the 
Sugar Act and the Stamp Act were passed, and the 
Stamp Act repealed, and in its stead an Act passed 
putting a tax on paint, tea, and glass. 

Massachusetts, prompt as usual, had suggested a 
convention of delegates from all the colonies to consider 
the first two of these acts. This convention met in 
New York, Oct. 5, 1764, and has usually been known 
as the Stamp Act Congress. It was there that Dick- 
inson showed the first signs of leadership in continental 
politics. He drafted the convention's resolutions, which 
have since been known as the First American Bill of 
Rights. 

These resolutions were too short and general to be 
convincing to any but those already convinced. There 
was not enough detail in them. The mass of the people 
needed light. They wanted to have the subject opened 
out for them. They were discontented ; but they 
scarcely knew how to express themselves. They knew 
their liberties were in danger, but they could not tell 
exactly why. The lawyers seemed to think they knew, 
but their language was unintelligible. In fact, it required 
eight more years of training and thought before many 
of the people were at all competent in this respect. 
The condensed feeling and reasoning of the Declaration 

290 



% 
The Rise of the Revolution 

of Independence could not have been framed into words 
in the year 1767. 

The repeal of the Stamp Act in 1766 had quieted the 
country. The people felt that their agitation against 
that measure had been successful, and that their liberties 
were safe. But in June, 1767, a little more than a year 
after the repeal, an Act appeared putting a tax on all 
paint, paper, tea, and glass imported into the colonies. 
It was not so directly burdensome as the Stamp Act, 
and at first the people seemed unable to understand 
that in principle it was just as bad as the Stamp 
Act. 

It was in this state of affairs that the " Farmer's Letters " 
awoke the country with a bound. The exact legal and 
constitutional relations between the colonies and the 
mother-country were vague. Even Dickinson himself 
when in the convention at New York in 1764 failed to 
state them in a way to impress the people. The effort, 
however, seems to have refreshed him ; for three years 
later, when he made the same attempt as a farmer, 
instead of as a lawyer, the people ceased to hesitate. 

The title of his book was fortunate. The farmers 
were by far the largest and most important class in the 
community. Next in importance was the shipping in- 
terest. The manufacturers and the classes peculiar to 
great cities were not worth counting. The farmer's 
point of view was such a successful hit that any one 
who searches much in historical collections finds imi- 
tations of Dickinson's letters for half a century after- 
ward. The opening sentence was captivating. " I am 
a farmer," he said, "settled after a variety of fortunes 
near the banks of the Delaware in the province of Penn- 

291 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

sylvania." His farm was small; his servants few and 
good; he had a little money at interest; he wished for 
no more. He had had a liberal education, and had been 
in the busy scenes of life, but was now content to live 
without bustle, in easy employment, which allowed him 
the enjoyment of his library and the friendship of intel- 
ligent men. What a hearing must the man receive who 
could thus idealize the most important class in the 
country ! For homely, beautiful simplicity these first 
pages could scarcely have been excelled by Franklin. 

The great question at that time in the ordinary mind 
was this : " You say England will oppress us. Possibly. 
But exactly how will she do it? What will she do next? " 
Dickinson answered these questions. Most of us are 
now well accustomed to the thought that the colonists 
rebelled, not against actual suffering, or against high 
taxes, but against the assertion of the right to tax 
them. Dickinson was the first man who stated the 
details of this doctrine in plain language. 

You made a great fuss about the Stamp Act, he says 
to the farmer, because it was direct taxation ; but you 
were silent about another equally dangerous one, which 
suspended the legislative power of the Assembly of 
New York, because the Assembly had refused to vote 
supplies of salt, pepper, and vinegar for the British 
troops. If Parliament has the right to punish us for 
not furnishing pepper, it can punish us for not furnish- 
ing clothes, and continue this course until it compels us 
to furnish everything; and what is that but taxation in 
another form? What signifies the repeal of the Stamp 
Act if Parliament retains such a right as this? 

Why do you not complain of the recent Act, taxing 

292 



% 
The Rise of the Revolution 

paint, paper, and glass? It is not so direct as the 
Stamp Act, but just as bad. Some of you say that we 
can avoid its burdens by making our own paper and 
glass. But England has always had the right to pro- 
hibit any manufacture among us, and has exercised 
that right, as you know, in the case of iron and steel. 
All she need do, then, is to lay a tax on some article 
she prohibits us to manufacture, or prohibit us from 
manufacturing some article she has taxed ; and what 
can we do? Do you not see that the moment you 
admit the principle that England has a right to tax 
any articles she sends to us, you have surrendered 
everything? 

He reached a climax when he showed the colonists 
the real object of the tax on paper and glass. The 
amount of money it would raise was trifling. But the 
Act expressly declared that any revenue that was 
raised should be devoted to maintain the administration 
of justice and civil government within the colonies, and 
to defend them. At that time the only political liberty 
left the colonies, since Charles II. inaugurated the more 
stringent policy of control, was that their assemblies 
voted the money necessary to carry on each govern- 
ment, and pay judges and governors their salaries. 
England could in most cases appoint the governors, 
but they were dependent on the colonists for the means 
to administer their office, and pay for their board and 
lodging. The colonists never hesitated to use this 
check, and, as we have seen, would withhold supplies 
until they obtained from the governor what they wanted, 
even when they brought the whole civil machinery to a 
stand. Their right to do this may be called the funda- 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

mental principle of colonial constitutional law. Scarcely 
a year passed without an attempt by the crown to break 
it. Scarcely a governor sailed for the colonies, without 
instructions in his pocket to obtain from the people a 
fixed and permanent sum for the support of all the 
offices. 

But what would become of this constitutional prin- 
ciple if England had the right to levy taxes as she 
pleased on the colonists to be used in support of their 
own governments? The governors' salaries would 
become fixed, the judges' salaries fixed, the appropri- 
ations for administration fixed; or if increased it would 
be not by vote of the assemblies, but by Parliament 
levying more taxes. What governor would call a meet- 
ing of an Assembly when both his salary and the ex- 
penses of his office were secure? Or if an Assembly 
met, what would it have to do? " They may perhaps 
be allowed," said Dickinson, " to make laws for the 
yoking of hogs or pounding of stray cattle. Their in- 
fluence will hardly extend so high as the keeping roads in 
repair, as that business may more properly be executed 
by those who receive the public cash." 

There is often a great reward awaiting the man who 
will condescend to be simple about great things. Never 
before, and never after, was Dickinson so simple in his 
language and so near to a pure literary form. The 
" Farmer's Letters " were his one stroke of genius. 
America and the civilized world were at his feet. The 
letters were reprinted in England and translated in France. 
Eulogies poured in from all sides. At a public meeting 
called at Faneuil Hall in Boston, Hancock, Samuel 
Adams, Warren, and others, were appointed a committee 

294 



The Rise of the Revolution 

to write him a letter of thanks. They exhausted their 
vocabulary in such praise as few public men have ever 
received. 

"Though veiled from our view," they say in concluding, 
" you modestly shun the deserved applause of millions, permit 
us to intrude upon your retirement, and salute the Farmer, 
as the friend of Americans and the common benefactor of 
mankind." 

For the next eight years, until the Declaration of 
Independence, Dickinson was the most influential and 
important public man in America. This sudden eleva- 
tion was rather unfortunate ; for, added to his already 
hasty temper, it turned his head. He was only thirty- 
five when he wrote the " Farmer's Letters," and he soon 
became arrogant and impatient of contradiction. Feel- 
ing that he had shaped the whole thought of America 
at an important crisis, he could see no merit in the plans 
of others. He aspired to manage the whole revolu- 
tionary movement, became more defiant than ever of 
popular opinion, and in the end lost all his influence. 

Events moved on. The colonists were busy per- 
suading one another to sign the non-importation and 
non-exportation agreement, which seemed the only 
peaceable way to cut out the taxes which England was 
levying on every article that entered or left the country. 
What was known in England as " the insolence of the 
town of Boston " increased. Long known to the British 
government as an aggressive independent colony, Mas- 
sachusetts now seemed to be the leader of the continent 
in evil example. The ministry resolved to subdue her; 
and a man-of-war and two regiments under General 

2 95 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Gage were sent to Massachusetts Bay. From that time 
all the severe measures of the home government were 
aimed at Boston. It was the one thing needed to com- 
plete her education in rebellion. 

Pennsylvania and the other colonies suffered nothing. 
They were still conservative, still saw before them a 
long line of peaceful, constitutional measures of oppo- 
sition, and at the end a dim outline which some said 
was the shadow of independence. 

In 1770 came the Boston Massacre, when Gage's 
soldiers fired upon the citizens of the town. Up went 
the Massachusetts blood to fever heat. But Pennsyl- 
vania, though sending messages of sympathy, was not 
yet for war. 

About a month after the Boston Massacre, the tax 
on paint, paper, and glass was repealed, but allowed 
to stand on tea. This repeal quieted the apprehension 
of most people. The conservative measures of resist- 
ance seemed to have been successful ; and the fame 
of the Farmer and his Letters was greater than ever. 
The tax on tea was a trifle. The people could avoid 
buying and drinking it until Parliament got tired of its 
foolishness. 

But Boston, as we know, was a little violent in reject- 
ing the tea; and in the next year, 1774, came the Boston 
Port Bill, which locked up the harbor of that devoted 
city, and brought its business to a stand. Massachu- 
setts had now reached the end of her rope. She had 
three courses open to her, — submit, starve, or break 
out in open rebellion. She preferred the last, but 
could not manage it alone. She could rely on Virginia, 
however; and if she could only win Pennsylvania, the 

296 



The Rise of the Revolution 

rest would follow. So May 19, 1774, Paul Revere 
arrived in Philadelphia to persuade the Keystone to 
take its place in the arch. 

The principal letters which he carried from the 
leaders in Boston were addressed to Joseph Reed and 
Thomas Mifflin, who were at that time believed to be 
the least conservative of the public men of Philadelphia. 
Reed was from New Jersey, and had been settled in 
Philadelphia only about four years. He was a lawyer, 
trained, after the manner of the times, in the English 
inns of court. His interview with Paul Revere was 
the beginning of his long career in politics. He 
became a general in the Revolution, and was always 
closely attached to Washington's military household^ 
preferring that position without pay to the more 
lucrative employments that were offered him. 

Mifflin was a thorough-bred Philadelphia Quaker of 
the commercial class; a man of some wealth, living in 
a large handsomely furnished house, where he enter- 
tained with the liberality that was then fashionable. 
He appears to have been a very vigorous and hand- 
some man, the very opposite of Reed, who was thin 
and pale and seldom in good health. His portrait 
shows a certain refinement and delicacy of features 
which was not uncommon among the Quakers. 

Like most of the Quakers who took to fighting, 
Mifflin made an excellent soldier. He commanded the 
best-disciplined brigade in the Continental Army. 
Having come of a sect that always talked peace, he 
was, by a natural process of reaction, very eloquent in 
talking of war, and was at times sent to raise recruits 
by his oratory. He is one of the neglected Pennsyl- 

297 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

vanians, and is now almost forgotten, although he filled 
a very conspicuous place in his lifetime. Besides his 
distinguished military career, he was President of the 
Continental Congress, a member of both the State and 
National Constitutional Conventions, President of the 
Supreme Executive Council, and three times Governor 
of Pennsylvania. 

These men, together with Dickinson, Ross, Clymer, 
Thomson, McKean, and others, made up the liberty 
party in Philadelphia. Perhaps the most important 
man of all was Charles Thomson. He has been called 
the " Sam Adams of Philadelphia," by which was 
meant that he watched and nursed the liberty move- 
ment day and night in small things as well as in great. 
He had come to Pennsylvania from Ireland when quite 
young, and had been well educated under Presbyterian 
influences by the Rev. Dr. Francis Allison at New 
London. He became a scholarly man, interested him- 
self in the Indians, and was elected by the Delawares a 
member of their tribe. They called him " the man of 
truth;" and his reputation in this respect seems to have 
been unusual. It was for a long time a saying in 
Pennsylvania that a statement was as true as if Charles 
Thomson's name was under it. 

He wrote a translation of the Septuagint, which 
attracted some attention in England. He was one of 
those careful, quiet, accurate, and absolutely faithful 
men, who are none the less valuable for their lack of 
brilliancy. He was made the Secretary of the First 
Continental Congress, and remained in that position all 
through the Revolution and for many years after. He 
was considered indispensable. He knew everything 

293 



The Rise of the Revolution 

and was in a certain sense the secret service department 
of the government. He kept notes of all his knowledge 
and experience, from which he wrote a history of the 
Revolution. If we could now read this production of 
the man of truth, it would probably alter a good many 
very firmly fixed opinions. But unfortunately Thom- 
son, with characteristic delicacy, burnt his manuscript, 
because he feared that much of it would hurt the 
feelings of certain families. 

Ross and Clymer were, like Thomson, very conspicu- 
ous men in their day, with long careers in Assembly, 
Continental Congress, and constitutional conventions, 
and now almost forgotten. 

The liberty party were in a peculiar position. They 
had to be very shrewd and cautious. They could win 
applause and distinction neither by violent action nor 
by violent speech. They had opportunities neither for 
14 tea parties" nor orations on the eternal rights of man. 
The child of liberty which they were nursing could bear 
no noise. If they were to build up their party with 
recruits from Quakers, Episcopalians, and Germans, they 
must move slowly and with cold and calculating sagacity. 

Thomson, Reed, and Mifflin took charge of Paul Re- 
vere and his mission. Their first object was to secure 
Dickinson, for his name must be at the head of every 
committee. A great deal has been written outside of 
Pennsylvania touching the motives for the slowness of 
Dickinson on this occasion. But we prefer the testi- 
mony of Charles Thomson, who was an eye-witness and 
an actor in those events. Some years afterward he 
wrote a long letter to W. H. Drayton of South Carolina, 
in which he described the whole affair. 

299 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Dickinson, he says, had for some time been convinced 
that the attempt of the ministry to force the tea on the 
colonies would end in bloodshed. He had, therefore, 
been reserving himself until matters became more 
serious, in order that he might then carry greater 
weight with the Quakers and other conservative ele- 
ments. These elements courted and relied on him 
because of his former moderation, and it was important 
that he should retain their regard. When the Boston 
Port Bill was passed, he made up his mind that the time 
of action had come; and he was preparing a series of 
letters for the public when Paul Revere arrived. 

The difficulty the liberty party experienced in assist- 
ing Revere and getting a public meeting for him is well 
described by Thomson: — 

" As the Quakers, who are principled against war, saw the 
storm gathering and therefore wished to keep aloof from 
danger, were industriously employed to prevent anything 
being done which might involve Pennsylvania farther in the 
dispute, and as it was apparent that for this purpose their 
whole force would be collected at the ensuing meeting, it was 
necessary to devise means so to counteract their designs as to 
carry the measures proposed, and yet prevent a disunion, and 
thus if possible bring Pennsylvania with its whole force un- 
divided to make common cause with Boston. The line of 
conduct Mr. D. had lately pursued opened a prospect to 
this." 

Preparations must have been made immediately on 
the arrival of Paul Revere, for the meeting was held 
the next day. It was at first suggested that a certain 
friend of Dickinson should propose radical measures, 

300 



The Rise of the Revolution 

and that Dickinson should reply to him and propose 
more moderate measures, which would be carried. A 
few hours before the meeting, Thomson, Mifflin, and 
Reed dined with Dickinson to arrange further details. 
Dickinson continued to play the conservative, and only 
after much pressing consented to attend the meeting. 
The ever-watchful Thomson thought he saw a difficulty 
with Reed, who disliked to play a second part. He, 
therefore, suggested that Reed should open the meet- 
ing, which satisfied everybody, and the Revolution was 
begun. 

Reed and Mifflin departed early, so as to attend the 
meeting without seeming to have been with Dick- 
inson ; but the careful Thomson remained to bring 
Dickinson. 

The place where this important meeting was held was 
in the long room of the city tavern, on the west side of 
Second Street just above Walnut. It was an attempt 
to get together only the prominent people of the city, 
and between two and three hundred were present. Reed 
addressed the meeting in moderate but pathetic terms. 
Mifflin followed, more impassioned, and with all the 
warmth and fire of the budding Quaker soldier. Then 
Thomson spoke, still more impassioned, and pressed so 
hard for an immediate declaration in favor of Boston 
that, having had no sleep for several nights, he fainted 
and was carried out into an adjoining room, leaving 
behind him an uproarious assembly, shocked beyond 
control at the violence of the measures proposed. 

This was Dickinson's opportunity, and he doubtless 
acquitted himself well. But when Thomson had re- 
covered and returned to the room, pale and weak, it 

301 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

was still in an uproar which he had not strength to 
allay. He, however, found voice enough to move for a 
committee to write an answer to Boston. Each party 
handed a list to the chair; and the clamor was renewed 
until some one was wise enough to suggest that the 
committee should be composed of the names on both 
lists. The meeting broke up, and each party retired, 
thinking they had partly carried their point. 

The next day, May 21, some of the committee met 
again at the city tavern, and Provost Smith wrote the 
letter. It was in the provost's easy, swinging style, 
full of kind feeling for Boston, and contained some very 
emphatic declarations of American rights. 

" If satisfying the East India Company, for the damage they 
have sustained, would put an end to this unhappy controversy and 
leave us on the footing of constitutional liberty for the future, 
it is presumed that neither you nor we could continue a moment 
in doubt what part to act ; for it is not the value of the tax, 
but the indefeasible right of giving and granting our own money 
(a right from which we can never recede), that is now the 
matter for consideration." 

The provost went on to say that in the short time al- 
lowed them they could not collect the entire sense of 
so large a city ; and even if they had collected it, the 
city was not authorized to act for the whole province. 
But they would as soon as possible collect the sentiment 
of all the people as well as of the neighboring colonies. 
As to remedies, they recommended a general congress 
of deputies from all the provinces. 

This letter and resolutions were given to Paul Revere, 
and he returned to Boston, by no means discouraged 

302 



The Rise of the Revolution 

with the success of his mission. Copies of the letter 
and resolutions were sent generally throughout the 
country. 

The meeting at the city tavern had been a compara- 
tively small one, but it had been successful, and, so far 
as it went, had committed the province to liberty. The 
next step was to have a general meeting of all the in- 
habitants of the city at the State-house, and coax the 
Quakers to go still farther. This was difficult, because 
they had an aversion to town meetings of any sort, as 
tending too much to excitement. But Thomson and the 
others finally arranged it with them, and even got them 
to assist in preparing the business for the meeting, 
which was held June 28, 1774, a little more than a 
month after the arrival of Paul Revere. Dickinson, 
Willing, and Pennington were the presidents ; and 
Provost Smith, Reed, and Thomson made speeches. 

These speeches were written out beforehand and re- 
vised by the presidents. The provost's speech shows the 
effect of this revision. It is more concise and restrained 
than usual. It was well calculated for the occasion. It 
assumes that the people would be too hot and eager, 
and the speaker seems to be quieting them and urging 
moderation. 

The meeting was successful. Resolutions were passed, 
making common cause with Boston, and denouncing 
the measure which had closed her port. The governor 
was asked to convene the Assembly. A Congress 
of all the colonies was recommended. A committee 
of correspondence was appointed for Philadelphia, which 
was to communicate with the county committees 
throughout the province. 

303 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

These county committees had been established some 
months before by the leaders of the liberty party, with 
the design of gradually bringing the whole body of 
the people into the dispute. Their organization was 
now completed by this Philadelphia meeting, which 
created a committee in chief in the city. It was 
believed that this system would represent the province 
and act in the place of the Assembly, which, under the 
leadership of Galloway, was supposed to be largely 
Tory, and not likely to be called together by the 
governor. It had been necessary to pass resolutions 
urging the calling of it, in order to quiet the pacific 
spirits, and persuade them that the province would not 
be finally involved without the consent of the regular 
representatives of the people. But it was shrewdly 
calculated that the committees, acting as a convention 
of all the people, would either force the Assembly into 
the movement, or if it refused act in its stead. 

The Congress of all the colonies, ever afterward 
known as the Continental Congress, assembled at Phila- 
delphia in September, 1774, with Galloway, Rhoads, 
Mifflin, Humphreys, Morton, Ross, and Edward Biddle 
representing Pennsylvania. None of them took a very 
prominent position in that session. In October, shortly 
before the Congress adjourned, Dickinson's friends 
procured his election to the Assembly, and the Assembly 
immediately added him to the delegates in. Congress. 
He took at once a leading part. Congress adjourned 
about a week after he took his seat, and yet everything 
important that was done in that Congress was done by 
him. He drew the famous petition to the king, and 
also the address to the people of Canada. These papers 

304 



The Rise of the Revolution 

set forth the rights and liberties of America in a manner 
which aroused admiration even in England. 

In the intervals of his Congressional duties, he still 
labored, with Thomson and the others, to win over the 
Assembly and bring Pennsylvania as a unit into the 
struggle. The difficulties to be overcome, and the state 
of opinion in the province at that time, could scarcely be 
better described than in Thomson's simple language : 

" The part they had to act was arduous and delicate. A 
great majority of the Assembly was composed of men in the 
proprietary and Quaker interest who though heretofore opposed 
to each other were now uniting, the one from motives of policy, 
the other from principles of religion. To press matters was 
the sure way of cementing that union and thereby raising a 
powerful party in the state against the cause of America. 
Whereas, by prudent management and an improvement of 
occurrences, as they happened, there was reason to hope that 
the Assembly, and consequently the whole province, might be 
brought into the dispute, without any considerable opposition. 
And from past experience it was evident that though the people 
of Pennsylvania are cautious and backward in entering into 
measures, yet when they engage none are more firm, resolute, 
and persevering. A great body of the people was composed 
of Germans ; the principal reliance was on them in case mat- 
ters came to extremities. And it is well known these were 
much under the influence of Quakers. For this reason, there- 
fore, it was necessary to act with more caution, and by every 
prudent means to obtain their concurrence in the opposition 
to the designs of Great Britain. And had the Whigs in 
Assembly been left to pursue their own measures, there is every 
reason to believe they would have effected their purpose, pre- 
vented that disunion which has unhappily taken place and 
brought the whole province as one man, with all its force and 

weight of government, into the common cause." 
20 305 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

In other words, the Pennsylvania leaders of the liberty 
party required time, and to be let alone, if they were to 
swing into line the whole of their cumbersome and slow 
population of Quakers and Germans. That it was 
largely a question of time is shown by the success of 
their efforts, as they moved along, step by step. Dick- 
inson, returning from the Continental Congress, was able 
to persuade the Assembly to approve all the proceedings 
of the Congress, in spite of the opposition of Galloway 
and the party that were fast drifting into Toryism. The 
Assembly was at that time a rather permanent body. 
Many of the members had held their seats in it for a 
long time, and this length of tenure gave them an 
importance and position in the community which they 
were loath to lose. Rather than lose their seats, they 
would suffer themselves to be led on, step by step, 
by outside pressure, until they had gone too far to 
retreat. 

Their steps might have been much quickened by cir- 
cumstances, or " occurrences," as Thomson calls them. 
If they could have been made to suffer like the Boston 
peeple ; if the ministry had sent a war ship, or a few 
insolent regiments, to Philadelphia, or done anything to 
irritate that human nature which lurked beneath the 
Quaker religion, — the movement would have been 
much more rapid. 

But even without suffering or interference of any kind, 
and moved by their sympathy for the other colonies, 
and their belief in American liberty, they were pro- 
gressing in the cause as well as could be expected. In 
the winter of 1774-75, although most of them were 
Quakers, they had voted a sum of money to purchase 

306 



I 

The Rise of the Revolution 



ammunition. In the following summer after the battle 
of Lexington, and when they knew that war and violence 
were inevitable, they nevertheless allowed themselves to 
be persuaded to arm the inhabitants, and ordered five 
thousand new muskets. They even went further, and, 
to pay for these muskets, ordered bills of credit to be 
struck for £3,500, and pledged the credit of the province 
for their redemption, which, as Thomson remarks, was 
in effect an assuming of sovereign power and a declara- 
tion of independence. 

Even Reed believed that the Quakers would ultimately 
be won over. They will wait, he said, " until they 
see how the scale is likely to preponderate ; then, I 
doubt not, they will contribute to the relief of Boston, 
and appear forward in the cause." A month later we 
find him writing to Lord Dartmouth that the Quaker 
Assembly had adopted all the measures of Congress, 
and had refused to obey the request of the governor 
to repair the barracks for the British troops. Such 
conduct he seemed to consider not only remarkable for 
a people who always professed to act a passive part, 
but also very hopeful. 1 

The mistake Reed made was in not waiting longer for 
the Quakers. He could not see the importance of edu- 
cating and coaxing them. Having recently come from 
New Jersey, he was not as familiar with their history 
and character as Thomson and Dickinson. He saw so 
many signs of their earnestness that he believed that if 
the radical party forged ahead and was successful, the 
Quakers would follow. But he little knew their pride 
and stubbornness, and their devotion to the government 

1 Life, i. 86, 88, 89. 
307 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

of Pennsylvania, which they had controlled so long. 
The leaders in Congress from the other colonies un- 
fortunately made the same mistake, or else were de- 
termined that if they could not have the whole of 
Pennsylvania, they would have a fraction, and have 
that fraction at once. They set to work to destroy not 
only the Assembly, but the whole Constitution of the 
State. This fabric, except the proprietary part of it, was 
very dear to the Quakers. If it was to be changed, they 
must change it themselves. When it was attacked and 
destroyed, all hope of their joining the party that had 
attacked it was gone. 

When the Continental Congress met in Philadelphia 
in September, 1774, the men who, it was feared, would 
make trouble by their precipitancy were the delegates 
from Massachusetts. John Adams and his colleagues 
had to be very self-controlled in that short autumn 
session of the Continental Congress of 1774. They 
had to watch their opportunities and insinuate their 
ideas through others. The Virginia and South Caro- 
lina delegates were the most congenial to them. But, 
on the whole, they found the condition of affairs, even 
among the Quakers, as favorable as could be expected ; 
and they were soon absorbed in that round of gayety 
which led Adams to describe Philadelphia as " the 
happy, the peaceful, the elegant, the hospitable, and 
the polite." 

He had scarcely arrived in town before Dickinson 
called on him in his coach with four beautiful horses. 
Adams described him as at first sight a thin, sickly 
man, suffering from the gout, and looking as if he might 
not live six months ; but a close inspection revealed 

308 



The Rise of the Revolution 

signs of vitality and force which promised a longer life. 
He also met Dr. Smith, the provost, whom he describes 
as a plain, tall man, rather awkward, with an appearance 
of art. 

Adams made friends rapidly, and Dickinson was 
the best of all. They opened their minds to each 
other. He describes in his diary a dinner with the two 
champions of the cause, Dickinson and Thomson, with 
no one else present but Mrs. Dickinson and her niece. 
" A most delightful afternoon we had," he says, " sweet 
communion indeed." 

So well did he progress among the dinners and 
suppers, the Burgundy and the port, that by the 17th of 
September he declared that he was convinced that 
America would support Massachusetts or perish with 
her. This was the day when the Suffolk resolutions 
were passed in Congress, assuring Boston of sympathy. 
" I saw," he writes his wife, " the tears gush into the 
eyes of the old, grave, pacific Quakers of Pennsylvania." 



309 



Pennsylvania : Colony and Commonwealth 



CHAPTER XXII 

THE MOVEMENT FOR INDEPENDENCE 

THE year from the spring of 1775 to the spring of 
1776 was crowded with momentous events, and yet the 
people were uncertain, and not yet committed to a 
struggle for independence. The battle of Lexington 
was fought in April, and Bunker Hill in June. Ticon- 
deroga and Crown Point were captured ; Arnold 
invaded Canada by way of Moosehead Lake, and 
Montgomery byway of Lake Champlain ; and in the 
attack on Quebec Montgomery was killed. The British 
forces were meantime shut up in Boston by a New Eng- 
land army, which had been adopted as the Army of 
Congress, and over which Washington had been placed 
as Commander-in-Chief. 

All this looked very much like war; and yet the 

people argued that it was merely defensive, and they 

were not yet at war with England, because they had 

sent another petition to the king, and were again waiting 

for the result. But they were gradually moving toward 

the idea of independence, and the Quakers were moving 

as rapidly as any of them ; for it was in the summer of 

this year that they voted to arm the people, and ordered 

new muskets and bayonets. Thomson, Dickinson, and 

Mifflin were in the Assembly, and leading them on step 

by step. 

310 



The Movement for Independence 

Dickinson had great faith in this policy, and, like 
Thomson, he believed that in time Pennsylvania would 
be brought into the Revolution as a unit. He had no 
patience with the Massachusetts delegates who were 
trying to force the issue. His plan of action was for all 
the colonies to keep abreast and move to independence 
as a solid phalanx. " Nothing can throw us into a 
pernicious confusion," he writes to Ouincy, " but one 
colony's breaking the line of opposition by advancing 
too hastily before the rest." 

It was in this same year 1775 that Tom Paine's 
pamphlet " Common Sense " appeared. Paine was a 
reckless young English stay-maker, never able to 
prosper at any calling, but concealing within himself 
a spark of literary genius. He seems to have had a 
fairly good education and to have been well informed 
on the events of the day. Upon Franklin's recom- 
mendation he had come to Philadelphia, where he 
now, with the encouragement of Dr. Rush, prepared 
the few pages which fired the American heart. This 
was eight years after the "Farmer's Letters" had ap- 
peared ; and the difference between Dickinson's argu- 
ment and that of Paine shows how far the people had 
advanced. 

Dickinson had found it necessary to explain to the 
colonists their constitutional relations with the mother- 
country, and to point out how their liberties were en- 
dangered by the new attitude assumed by Parliament. 
He satisfied their minds on this point, and at the 
time Paine wrote they were hesitating to take hostile 
measures against their mother, only because they still 
had a lingering sentiment and affection for her, and 

3" 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

were doubtful whether they could live by themselves. 
It was this sentiment that Paine attacked. 

" But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the 
more shame upon her conduct. Even brutes do not devour 
their young, nor savages make war upon their families ; where- 
fore the assertion, if true, turns to her reproach." 

Wherever he found opportunity he sneered at this 
relation of mother and daughter, and also at that feel- 
ing, so universal among the colonists, which led them 
always to speak of England as home. He had much to 
say of the " Royal Brute of Great Britain," as he called 
the king. Government, he declared, was a necessary 
evil, and the less of it the better; but society and the 
people were the true source of all things political. 

" In England a king hath little more to do than to make 
war and give away places, which in plain terms is to im- 
poverish the nation and set it together by the ears. A pretty 
business indeed for a man to be allowed eight hundred thou- 
sand sterling a year for, and worshipped into the bargain ! 
Of more worth is one honest man to society and in the sight 
of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived." 

Simple, vigorous sentences like these expressed what 
many Americans had already begun to think, but hardly 
dared to utter. And when he went on to show in the 
same manner that it was repugnant to reason that this 
continent should be properly governed by a little island 
three thousand miles away, that the satellite was already 
larger than the planet, he struck a chord tightly strung 
for his touch, and which still vibrates as we read his 
words. 

The spring of 1775 brought Franklin home. For 

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The Movement for Independence 

ten years he had been in England, where he had been 
sent in 1764 by the popular party to change the 
province into a royal government. That project he 
soon abandoned. Within a few months after his arrival 
he was plunged into the Stamp Act controversy, and 
within a few years discovered that the king, to whose 
tender mercies he had intended to intrust Pennsylvania, 
was the worst of all enemies of American liberty. 

He opposed the Stamp Act by every means in his 
power; but when it was passed he supposed the people 
would submit to it. He was greatly surprised to hear 
of their indignation meetings ; and on the 9th of 
August, 1665, he wrote to his friend, John Hughes, a 
letter which has never yet appeared in any edition of 
his works : 1 — 

" Since my last I have received your favor of June 20. The 
account you give me of the indiscretion of some people with 
you concerning the government here I do not wonder at. 
'T is of a piece with the rest of their conduct. But the rash- 
ness of the Assembly in Virginia is amazing. I hope however 
that ours will keep within the bounds of Prudence and Mod- 
eration ; for that is the only way to lighten or get clear of our 
Burthens. 

" As to the Stamp Act, tho' we purpose doing our endeavor 
to get it repealed, in which I am sure you would concur with 
us, yet the success is uncertain. If it continues your under- 
taking to execute it may make you unpopular for a Time, but 
your acting with coolness and steadiness and with every cir- 
cumstance in your Power of Favour to the People, will by 

1 The manuscript of this letter is in the possession of the Penn- 
sylvania Historical Society. 

3*3 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

degrees reconcile them. In the meantime, a firm Loyalty to 
the Crown and faithful adherence to the Government of this 
Nation, which it is the Safety as well as Honour of the Colonies 
to be connected with, will always be the wisest course for you 
and I to take, whatever may be the madness of the Populace 
or their blind leaders, who can only bring themselves and 
Country into Trouble, and draw on greater Burthens by Acts 
of rebellious Tendency." 

But as months passed by, and fresh information 
kept arriving from America, he allowed himself to be 
instructed, and, in his next important public act, his 
examination before Parliament, he completely changed 
his ground. This examination, in which he so em- 
phatically, and with such perfection of reasoning, 
declared the ability as well as the willingness of the 
people to resist taxation, astonished the whole civilized 
world. Burke always said that the scene reminded him 
of a master examined by a parcel of school-boys. In 
that one day Franklin added a new domain to his great- 
ness. He had been the philosopher and the Penn- 
sylvania politician. He was now a diplomatist and a 
statesman. 

But still he did not believe there would be war, and 
when at last convinced that he must return home, he 
expected to be back in England the following October 
and soon afterward see the final settlement of the con- 
troversy. He had been away ten years ; and what 
years they had been ! What work, what enjoyment, 
and what a capacity for work and enjoyment ! The 
efforts he made as agent for the colonies seem mere 
incidents among the researches and experiments in 
science, the attendance at meetings of learned societies, 

3i4 



The Movement for Independence 

the clubs, the dinners, the chess-playing, the long de- 
lightful conversations with the greatest men of the age, 
the visits to country-houses, and the journeys in England 
or on the Continent. As he returned slowly on his six 
weeks' voyage, he explored the pet object of his re- 
search, the Gulf Stream, discovered that it was not 
phosphorescent, and guessed successfully at its source 
and cause. It was on this voyage that the idea oc- 
curred to him of shortening a ship's voyage by sailing 
her on a circle of the earth's diurnal motion. 

While engaged in these happy occupations, the battle 
of Lexington was fought, and he heard of it as soon as 
he stepped ashore. The next morning the Assembly 
elected him a delegate to the Continental Congress. 
Contact with the people, or the news of the battle of 
Lexington, seems to have rapidly dissolved his con- 
servatism. In a few days he joined the radicals, and 
his hopes of returning to settle the controversy in Octo- 
ber were forgotten. 

This year, 1775, also saw the provost again in politics. 
Since his activity at the time of Paul Revere's mission 
he had been silent for more than a year and a half. 
Rut now, on the 23d of June, 1775, he preached a 
sermon in Christ Church which attracted wide atten- 
tion. He had been asked to preach it by the third 
battalion of Associators, commanded by Col. John 
Cadwalader. In asking him, they doubtless intended 
to accomplish something more than to hear an elo- 
quent discourse. He was closely connected with the 
proprietors, was the natural leader of the American 
clergy in the Church of England, was supposed to have 
a bishopric in expectation, and was strongly suspected 

315 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

of Toryism. It would be important, as well as inter- 
esting, to make him put himself on record. Such a 
bold and aggressive man, when challenged in this 
public manner, would not be likely to halt between 
two opinions. 

Not only the battalion, but all the members of Con- 
gress and a large concourse of people assembled to 
hear the great orator, and it was a most powerful, 
impressive sermon, and as strongly on the side of the 
patriots as could be desired. It was printed, ran 
through edition after edition, and was reprinted in 
several editions in England. 

Eight months afterward he was again called upon, 
and this time by Congress itself, to preach a funeral 
oration in honor of General Montgomery and the 
officers and soldiers who had fallen with him in the 
expedition against Canada. It was a fine occasion for 
an orator. The attack on Canada, so full of heroic 
daring, partially successful, and yet on the whole a 
failure, had roused the feelings of the people to the 
utmost. Several Pennsylvanians had been killed, and 
among them Capt. John Macpherson, the promising 
son of the old merchant privateersman and owner of 
the country-seat Mount Pleasant. 

For the appointed day, the 19th of February, 1776, 
the provost prepared himself most carefully, — in fact, 
too carefully. He was to have before him, not only 
Congress, but the Assembly, the city authorities, the 
people, and the army. He collected all the gentlemen 
of Philadelphia who were inclined to music, and sent to 
Lancaster and New York for others. These were to 
form a choir, with instruments, which was to take up 

316 



The Movement for Independence 

and sing the poetical passages in the oration as soon as 
the Doctor began to quote them. 

It was altogether a remarkable performance, and 
quite unusual in the colonies. But the extremists in 
Congress were offended because the provost congratu- 
lated his hearers that the Americans had not begun the 
war, and were still willing to make peace if their 
liberties were secured. In fact, the extremists had 
expected him to help break down the majority in Con- 
gress, which was still rather conservative. John Adams 
spoke of the oration as an " insolent performance." 
It is difficult, however, to see how he and others could 
object in face of the passage which followed imme- 
diately after the one of which they complained. 

"But suppose these terms cannot be obtained? Why then, 
there will be no need of further arguments, much less of 
aggravations. Timid as my heart perhaps is, and ill-tuned as 
my ear may be to the din of arms and the clangor of the 
trumpet ; yet in that case, sounds which are a thousand times 
more harsh — ' even the croaking of frogs in the uncultivated 
fen,' or the howling of wild beasts round the spot where 
liberty dwells — would be 'preferable to the nightingale's 
song,' in vales of slavery, or the melting notes of Corelli in 
cities clanking their chains." 

The truth of the matter was that the Massachusetts 
delegates, finding matters going too slow for them, had 
now for some months been in an open quarrel with the 
conservatives. John Adams and Dickinson no longer 
spoke to each other; and Samuel Adams is said to 
have proposed uniting the New England colonies into 
a confederacy and making a break for independence. 

317 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

What was actually done, however, was the passage 
by Congress, on May 10, of the recommendation to 
all the colonies to change their constitutions, and adopt 
new governments suited to the new conditions. It was 
supposed that the strength of the conservatives lay in 
the old charter governments; and if they could be 
broken up, the feeling for independence would spread. 

This may have been a good recommendation for 
some colonies, but it was not for others. Connecticut 
and Rhode Island rejected it, and retained their original 
charters until far down into the present century. In 
Pennsylvania it made more Tories than patriots. It was 
an attempt to force the people against their will, when 
they were gradually moving in their own way and of 
their own accord. 

Our Assembly, though composed of Quakers, had 
already in effect broken with Great Britain. They had 
ceased to submit laws to the governor, and carried on 
the affairs of the province by passing resolutions. It 
was in this way that they voted supplies of muskets and 
ammunition, and pledged the credit of the province to 
pay for them. They appointed a council of safety to 
be the executive of the province, and act in the place 
of the governor, whom they now entirely disregarded. 
He acquiesced in their treatment of him, made no 
attempt to govern, and soon returned to England. 

These same Quakers in the Assembly were also 
preparing to repeal the naturalization laws and the 
laws requiring the oath of allegiance to Great Britain. 
They had increased the representation and given more 
members to the western counties. They were organiz- 
ing a voluntary militia system. On the 8th of June, 

3'S 



■ 

The Movement for Independence 

1776, as the desire for independence had greatly in- 
creased, they resolved by a large majority to bring- 
in new instructions to their delegates in Congress, who 
had heretofore been instructed not to favor inde- 
pendence. 

The Assembly was in effect a convention of the 
people. Its members were elected annually, adjourned 
as they pleased, and could not be prorogued by the 
governor. They could be as easily changed, and made 
to conform to the will of the people, as any conven- 
tion, and in fact they were gradually being changed, 
and were leaning more and more toward the popular 
side. There was not the reason for abolishing their 
functions that there was in some colonies, where the 
Assembly was entirely in the control of a royal 
governor who remained at his post. The Pennsylva- 
nia Constitution was in every respect as well suited to 
the exigencies of the Revolution as the charters of 
Connecticut and Rhode Island, and should have been 
retained, as those were. 

But the extremists, led by Reed, Rittenhouse, Frank- 
lin, Dr. Rush, and McKean were determined to destroy 
every vestige of the Constitution and charter. They were 
resisted by Dickinson, Wilson, Robert Morris, Thomson, 
Mifflin, and the whole body of the Quakers, as well as 
large numbers of conservatives from other divisions. 

These men, during the two years preceding the spring 
of 1776, succeeded in staving off the change. But 
when Congress, May 10, 1776, recommended the 
change, the movement became too strong for them. 
Mass meetings of the extremists were held, calling on 
the Assembly to abdicate its functions. The officers 

3 T 9 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

and men of the five Philadelphia battalions, which had 
been organized by the Assembly, declined to recognize 
the authority of the body that had created them, and 
declared that it should appoint no more officers over 
them. The various committees of safety and corre- 
spondence, which had been created to develop the 
revolutionary movement, were called upon to take 
charge of the State and call a convention to frame a 
new Constitution. All these committees met together 
in Philadelphia on the 1 8th of June. They assumed 
themselves to be the supreme power of the State, issued 
the call, and provided for the method of electing the 
convention. 

The violence and success of these proceedings were 
captivating to many minds, and the Assembly was fast 
dying of exhaustion. On the 14th of June it met to 
pass the new instructions to the delegates in Congress, 
but found it had not the necessary two thirds to form 
a quorum. The extremists had persuaded enough 
members to stay away, and persuaded them so success- 
fully that they never appeared again. The Assembly 
repeatedly attempted to meet for the next two months ; 
but a quorum was never present, and toward the end 
of August it breathed its last. The charter and institu- 
tions which William Penn had established, and which 
had endured for nearly a hundred years, were gone 
forever. 

And what was gained? What did the extremists 
gain after their convention had forced upon the people 
the instrument known as the Constitution of 1776? 
They gained nothing which they would not have had 
without it, and without it they might have had a great 

320 



The Movement for Independence 

deal more. They lost the Quakers forever. Those 
stubborn, quiet people, who had made Pennsylvania, 
and ruled it for nearly a century, could be led, or per- 
suaded, or would go of their own accord ; but they 
would not be driven. As a sect, they withdrew from 
the Revolutionary movement altogether, and their ex- 
ample influenced many of the other conservatives to do 
the same. 

This was the end of the political power of the 
Quakers. They never again controlled a legislature, 
and never again shaped the policy of the State. They 
disappeared entirely from government, and became a 
mere social influence, which for the next fifty years was 
of some importance, and after that declined. 

The Convention of 1776 which created a new Penn- 
sylvania was a curious body, and an interesting instance 
of American skill in government. It combined within 
itself the functions of legislature, governor, judicial de- 
partment, and constitutional convention. It had no 
sooner met, with Franklin as president, and the Rev. 
William White, afterward bishop, to open the first 
session with prayer, than it set to work to pass laws 
and declare Pennsylvania an independent State. It ap- 
pointed delegates to Congress. It ordered the people 
to take out their window-weights and clock-weights, 
and sell the lead in them for bullets. It deprived the 
non-combatant Quakers of their weapons. They had 
refused to use them, and they must be given to those 
who would. It regulated the jails, and released all 
prisoners convicted of minor offences. It controlled 
the Associators, as the militia were called, and heaped 
heavy taxes on non-associators and non-combatants. 
21 321 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

If the Quakers and Germans would not fight, they 
should at least pay the expenses of those who did. 
It appointed a Council of Safety and Conservators of 
the Peace to take charge of the State, and it adopted 
laws defining treason and counterfeiting. It made a 
temporary agreement with Virginia about the disputed 
boundary line. It was a magnificent example of the 
instinct of the Saxon race for self-government. With 
a stroke of the pen it abolished the ancient fabric and 
tore it out root and branch, and then deliberately and 
coolly began to build up another. 

All the time that it was passing laws, and regulating 
the daily concerns of the new State, it was also deliberat- 
ing on the provisions of the new Constitution, which it 
finished and gave to the people at the close of Septem- 
ber, 1776. This instrument shows very clearly how the 
American mind gradually evolved its ideas of govern- 
ment from the old colonial charters to the National 
Constitution of 1789. The Pennsylvania Constitution of 
1776 shows our constitutional ideas in a crude state of 
development. It contained many things which are now 
believed to be useless. The executive power, instead of 
being committed to a single governor, was given to a 
council of twelve, — one to be elected by each of the 
eleven counties and the twelfth by Philadelphia. The 
president of this council was to be chosen by the legis- 
lature. The legislative power was given to one body, 
called the General Assembly. There was no provision 
for a second house or senate. But the most curious 
department of all was the Council of Censors, whose 
duty was to watch over the Constitution, report in- 
fractions of it, and act the part of general critic and 

322 



The Movement for Independence 

scold. It was a clumsy contrivance, and was never 
successful. 

The only prominent men in the convention were 
Ross, Clymer, Rittenhouse, and Franklin. There were 
no great lawyers, and no one of any great skill in 
constitution-making. Many passages in the instrument 
seem to remind us of the simplicity of Franklin's mind. 
Rittenhouse was chairman of the committee that drafted 
the Constitution, and doubtless had much influence in 
shaping many of the clauses. So far as this Constitu- 
tion was not the product of the average intelligence and 
opinion of the time, it may be said to be the work of an 
astronomer and a philosopher. 

The convention was in session from July 19 to Sep- 
tember 28, and the new government went into operation 
in November, 1776. The effect on the State was very 
unfortunate. The Constitution had never been submitted 
to the people. It turned out of power and influence, 
not only the Quakers, but the proprietary party and all 
the men who, like Willing, Allen, Morris, Dickinson, 
Norris, and others, had long occupied positions of prom- 
inence and importance. It set them more than ever 
against the Revolution. Instead of dealing justly with 
their interests and sentiments and leading them toward 
the Revolution, as it should have done, it shocked and 
violated their feelings and turned their self-interest away 
from independence. It made many of them Tories, and 
the wonder is it did not make more. Its absurd pro- 
visions for a twelve-headed executive and a council of 
censors, and the neglect to submit it to popular vote, 
gave them a chance to ridicule it, and to say that it was 
a usurpation and had been forced on the people without 

323 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

their consent. Two parties immediately arose, — the 
Constitutionalists, composed almost entirely of a new 
set of men, unused to power, who were determined 
to stand by the new Constitution, and the Anti-Constitu- 
tionalists, composed of the old leaders and former men 
of prominence who wanted the Constitution amended. 

The agitation which produced the new Constitution 
had been contemporaneous with that other agitation 
which had for its object the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence. These two movements forced Pennsylvania 
prematurely into the Revolution and destroyed all possi- 
bility and hope of her people acting as a unit. 

In the spring of 1776 the Pennsylvania delegation 
in Congress was composed of Franklin, Dickinson, 
Robert Morris, Wilson, Willing, Morton, and Hum- 
phreys. They had been instructed by the Assembly 
to advocate redress of grievances and a permanent 
constitutional settlement, but not to favor independence. 
The delegations of most of the other colonies were 
under similar instructions. But in May, 1776, the desire 
for independence had become so strong that the two 
or three colonies which had been all along secretly in 
favor of it began to speak of it openly; and to the 
great delight of Massachusetts, Virginia opened the ball, 
May 22, by instructing her delegates to urge an im- 
mediate declaration. In obedience to this instruction 
Richard Henry Lee, on June 7, offered in the Continental 
Congress his famous resolutions. 

The subject was hotly debated for the rest of the 
month. Seven of the colonies were in favor of Lee's 
resolutions, and six were against them. The majority 
in favor of the resolutions was composed of the four 

324 



The Movement for Independence 

New England colonies, Virginia, North Carolina, and 
Georgia. The minority led by Dickinson was made 
up of Pennsylvania, South Carolina, New York, New 
Jersey, Maryland, and Delaware. 

The objection of the minority was entirely one of 
policy. They believed independence was inevitable, 
but that the time had not yet come for proclaiming it. 
The colonies were not yet sufficiently united; the desire 
for independence not yet sufficiently wide-spread ; and 
there was no prospect of a foreign alliance to give hope 
of success to our arms. 

The Congress set to work to remove as many of these 
objections as possible. A committee was appointed to 
prepare the Articles of Confederation, which, it was 
believed, would unite the colonies sufficiently to with- 
stand the shock of war. Another committee was 
appointed to prepare a plan for treaties with for- 
eign powers. Dickinson was on both of these com- 
mittees, drafted the Articles of Confederation, and also 
the plan for the treaties. Thus far every important 
national state paper had been the work of his hands. 
His opposition, or conservatism, whichever it may be 
called, had produced the Articles of Confederation, the 
first real American Union, without which the Revolution 
could not have been carried on. 

It was absolutely essential that the vote for indepen- 
dence should be unanimous ; and its advocates used 
every means in their power to win over the minority. 
Special efforts were made in the colonies that had not 
yet changed their instructions to their delegates. Mem- 
bers of Congress left Philadelphia to visit these colonies 
and arouse the people. As the month of June wore on, 

325 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

one colony after another fell into line and changed their 
instructions. Even the Quaker Assembly of Pennsyl- 
vania voted new instructions just before its functions 
were destroyed by the convention. By the end of the 
month every colony, except New York, had given to 
its delegates authority to vote for independence. The 
large majority being agreed, the only question was 
one of time, and how long the time of announcing 
independence should be delayed was the difficult 
question. 

Dickinson and nearly the whole Pennsylvania delega- 
tion were for delay, and for the old reasons, — lack of 
unity and lack of allies. They were doubtless largely 
influenced by the position of affairs in their own State. 
The Quakers and many of the conservatives were al- 
ready lost by premature measures, and by an attempt 
to force opinion. Another hasty move might alienate 
others from the cause. Many of the old proprietary 
party were hesitating and watching events. If let alone 
for a while, they would develop into patriots. The 
numbers of the patriot party were increased every day 
by men who were thus developing ; but to try to force 
such men into the contest would be to drive them from 
it altogether. 

The ist of July was the day fixed for the final de- 
cision. The debate lasted nine hours; and when the 
vote was taken, in committee of the whole, all the colo- 
nies were in favor of Lee's resolutions, except four. 
South Carolina and Pennsylvania voted directly against 
them ; Delaware was equally divided, and her vote could 
not be counted ; New York, being still uninstructed, re- 
fused to vote. The committee of the whole was about 

326 



The Movement for Independence 

to report this result when Rutledge of South Carolina 
moved an adjournment to the next day. 

The final decision was thus postponed from the 1st 
of July to the 2d ; and the object of Rutledge was 
to secure in the intervening time a greater unanimity. 
Up to that time Franklin was the only one of the Penn- 
sylvania delegation who was in favor of an immediate 
declaration. The remaining delegates, Robert Morris, 
Dickinson, Wilson, Willing, Morton, and Humphreys, 
were against it. But on the 2d of July, Wilson, 
after much hesitation, decided to vote with Franklin, 
and Morton followed suit. Willing and Humphreys 
continued to vote against it; but as Morris and Dickin- 
son absented themselves, the vote of Pennsylvania was 
carried for the Declaration by three to tw r o. Delaware, 
whose vote had been evenly divided, was brought over 
to the side of the Declaration by the arrival of Caesar 
Rodney; and South Carolina was also persuaded. The 
New York delegation, being still without fresh instruc- 
tions, declined to vote. 

Thus independence was declared by an almost unani- 
mous vote on the 2d of July, and not on the 4th, as is 
usually supposed. The document which we now call 
the Declaration was adopted on the 4th as a public 
expression of what had been decided on the 2d. 
The vital question had been on Lee's resolutions, which 
were a short, simple statement declaring the colonies 
independent. 

Neither the passage of Lee's resolutions, nor the 
document adopted on the 4th, aroused much excite- 
ment in the country. The Sessions of the Congress 
were secret ; scarcely any one knew what was being de- 

327 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

bated ; and when the final result was made known, it was 
received very quietly. On the 8th of July the Decla- 
ration was read at length by John Nixon in the State- 
house yard. Mrs. Deborah Logan, sitting at the window 
of her house at the corner of Fifth and Library streets, 
heard the reading, and records in her diary that few 
people were present, except some of the lower orders. 
It was not made a matter of much ceremony or import- 
ance. It had not then been signed ; and the signatures 
were not all appended until August. 

The reason for this apparent lack of interest was that 
in the minds of most people the Declaration was not 
considered as very decisive of anything. The point 
that was troubling their minds was whether we should 
be able to contend in arms with Great Britain ; and the 
Declaration was valued only as it would assist us, in 
that respect, by making us more united, and getting us 
foreign alliance. The dramatic side of it was not then 
as apparent as it is now. 

As time wore on, however, and the people looked 
back at the Declaration, it seemed to them more and 
more of a landmark. It became the starting-point for 
a new era. As the Revolution became more and more 
successful, they learned to take a pride in it, and they 
gradually substituted for Lee's resolutions and the 
2d of July, the formal document adopted on the 4th. 

Up to the time of the passage of Lee's resolutions, 
and for some months afterward, there was no particular 
mark of unpopularity attaching to the men who had 
opposed the Declaration. This was natural ; for most 
of the colonists had all along been in favor of making 
war on Great Britain, not for the sake of a permanent 



The Movement for Independence 

separation and independence, but for the sake of settling 
disputed questions, and forcing' a closer constitutional 
union which would better secure American rights and 
liberties. Robert Morris, although he had opposed the 
Declaration, and refused to vote for it, was nevertheless 
re-elected to Congress on the 20th of July. He still 
thought the Declaration a mistake, and on the day of 
his re-election wrote " that in his poor opinion it was an 
improper time, and that it will neither promote the 
interest nor redound to the honor of America, for it 
has caused division when we wanted union." Wilson 
was also re-elected, although he had steadily opposed the 
Declaration, and voted for it only at the last moment. 

Dickinson was not so fortunate. The convention, 
which had now usurped the functions of the legislature, 
and represented the extremists, declined to send him 
back to Congress; and Willing and Humphreys also 
failed of re-election. The new delegation elected by 
the convention was composed of Franklin, Morris, 
Wilson, Dr. Rush, Morton, Clymer, Ross, James Smith, 
and George Taylor, and these men appear as the signers 
to the Declaration. 

As the idea of independence became more popular, 
and every one felt that the country was committed to it, 
the men who had opposed it in the last days of June 
began to suffer in reputation. Even Wilson, who had 
voted for it at the last moment, and Morris, who had 
finally signed the declaration of it, came in for a good 
share of abuse. But Dickinson, who never wavered in 
his opinion for a moment, was the worst sufferer, and 
soon became the object of the most virulent, cruel, and 
unjust attacks that the camp followers of a revolutionary 

329 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

part)-, fresh in power, can heap upon a worthy citizen 
whose eminence they envy. 

The convention, by destroying the Assembly and the 
whole fabric of the old government, had brought into 
authority, or prominence, a set of men to whom political 
power was a new thing. Many of them were decent 
people; but the same movement which raised them 
into light brought with them a set of scribblers and ad- 
venturers, who in times of peace would be either in jail 
or obscurity. Such men gratify the strongest passion 
of their natures when they feel that they are undermin- 
ing, by innuendo and inference, the people who ^have 
long been held respectable. All through the Revolu- 
tion, and for twenty years after, we had among us a 
swarm of these vermin. Their existence is not usually 
made apparent in Fourth of July orations; but all who 
have examined the original authorities of that time are 
painfully aware of their presence. 

The year and a half which followed the Declaration 
of Independence justified many of the doubts of Morris, 
Wilson, and Dickinson. Disasters and defeats followed 
each other in rapid succession, relieved only by the 
small success of Washington at Trenton. It was not 
until the surrender of Kurgoyne at Saratoga that a 
change came, and help from Europe. With such a 
victory before her eyes, France within a few months 
recognized our independence and sent a fleet to assist 
us. This was in exact accordance with the prediction 
of Dickinson, that it would be the success of our arms, 
and not a mere paper declaration! which would bring us 
foreign recognition and alliance. 

The friends and admirers of Dickinson cannot help 

330 



The Movement for Independence 

wishing that he had followed the example of Wilson, 
and saved himself from abuse by voting for the Decla- 
ration on its final passage. But if he had done so he 
would not have been John Dickinson. He was con- 
sistent to the last; and when years afterward a picture 
was to be painted of the members of Congress at the 
time of the Declaration, he refused, though several 
times urged by the artist, to allow his face to appear 
among them. " The truth is," he wrote, " that, as I 
opposed making the Declaration of Independence at 
the time it was made, I cannot be guilty of so false an 
ambition as to seek for any share in the fame of that 
Council." 

Consistency, however, did not drive him to sulk in 
his tent. Within a week after the Declaration was 
made he led his regiment to Elizabethtown to confront 
the enemy, then invading New York. He was colonel 
of the first battalion, which, by the law of that time, 
gave him command of the whole body of Pennsylvania 
militia. But before he marched for New York his 
enemies succeeded in nominating two brigadiers to be 
placed over him. He felt the indignity, and spoke of 
it in an address he made to his battalion, telling them 
at the same time that as they were going at once into 
active service, he would pass over the affront and lead 
them on their tour of duty. 

Arrived before the enemy on Staten Island, he had 
the entire command for the rest of the summer, and 
exerted himself to the utmost in disciplining the raw 
troops and preventing desertions. When the troops 
returned, he returned with them, and retained his com- 
mission as colonel until the convention confirmed the 

33' 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

nomination of the two brigadiers, when he immediately 
resigned. 

As the autumn of 1776 wore on into December, it 
became more and more evident that the British would 
take Philadelphia, and the families of patriots be 
exposed to insult or worse. Dickinson gathered to- 
gether his family, and retired to his farm near Dover 
in Delaware. He was in effect exiled ; for although 
he went away voluntarily in a certain sense, the abuse 
that was heaped upon him had made Pennsylvania 
too hot to hold him. He returned some years after- 
ward to vindicate himself; but he never again regarded 
Pennsylvania as his true home. It was in Delaware 
that he carried out his intention of becoming a common 
soldier. With a musket on his shoulder, the gouty 
high liver, who drove his coach and four in Philadel- 
phia, joined a militia company, and remained with them 
through the campaign which ended with the battle of 
the Brandywine. 

For this service he was made a brigadier-general 
of Delaware. Except McKean, he was the only mem- 
ber of the Continental Congress that saw actual service. 
Delaware sent him to Congress in 1779 by a unani- 
mous vote of both branches of her legislature, and 
the next year elected him president of the State. 



332 



w 



ar 



CHAPTER XXIII 

WAR 

The year 1777 was one of great confusion in Phila- 
delphia, — a confusion which continued to the end of 
the Revolution. The die was cast. There was no 
longer any use in debating about independence. It 
had been declared, and was to be fought for, and war 
was in the gates. 

The sick and wounded soldiers came pouring into 
the city, and hospitals had to be improvised in private 
houses and public institutions. Camp fever and the 
other diseases of crowding and dirt raged among them. 
Two thousand were buried in Washington Square, close 
along the line of Walnut Street, — that strange plot of 
ground which has received, at one time or another, the 
bodies of paupers, Indians, and Continentals. 

But as the scenes of war and destruction increased, 
Philadelphia became gayer than ever. The fluctua- 
tions in prices, and in the value of the Continental 
money, gave opportunities for speculation and the 
acquisition of sudden wealth which had never been 
known before. The paper currency gave an impres- 
sion that money was plenty, or cheap, as it is called, 
and the whole community became demoralized and 
reckless. Tories and Whigs set to work to enjoy 
themselves. For seven years the town was full of 

3.33 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

soldiers and uniforms; sometimes the red coats of the 
British, sometimes the buff and blue of the Continen- 
tals.- Congress was there, foreign ministers, and dis- 
tinguished men. Never, before or since, has the town 
been so thoroughly interesting as it was for those seven 
years, — " an attractive scene of debauch and amuse- 
ment, " as Richard Henry Lee described it. It would 
have been difficult at that time to have found a city, 
even on the Continent of Europe, where one could have 
seen so much and such varied life. 

The same sort of thing was going on in Boston and 
New York on a smaller scale ; but the metropolis and 
seat of government naturally had more of it. 

"When I was in Boston last summer," wrote General 
Greene, " I thought luxury very prevalent there ; but they are 
no more to compare with those now prevailing in Philadel- 
phia than an infant babe to a full grown man. I dined at 
one table where there were an hundred and sixty dishes." 

As the value of the Continental money fell, and 
prices of necessaries rose, there were great complaints 
of suffering; but extravagance and amusements appar- 
ently increased all the more. People who were in the 
thick of the excitement, entertaining lavishly, and 
sending their daughters to every ball, wrote letters of 
great distress, in which they said they must soon quit 
this scene of frightful expense; but there is no record 
of their having gone. Franklin's pretty daughter writes 
to her father, in France, of the shocking prices she 
pays for everything, — fifty dollars a yard for gauze, 
six dollars for a pair of gloves, and .£200 for a cloak 
and hat. But what was she to do when she was 

334 



War 

asked to spend the day with General Washington and 
his wife, or the evening at the French ambassador's. 
Next winter she must retire and take to spinning 
again. But she appears to have continued buying 
what she wanted, and teased her father to send her 
more things from France. 

By the close of the year 1776, men began to show 
their true colors. Galloway turned Tory, and went 
over to the British at New York. So did the Allen 
family, and many others. Some, who were Tory at 
heart, remained; and there was an immense body of 
people, numbering many thousands, who also remained, 
and whose position was peculiar. 

A large part of them were Quakers, who were un- 
questionably neutral, and took neither one side nor the 
other. Individuals among them may have been Tories. 
But there is no doubt that the mass of the Quakers 
lived up to what they professed, and assisted neither 
party. The rest of this peculiar class were the mem- 
bers of the Anti-Constitutional party, — men who 
favored the Revolution, but who had been driven from 
their old power and position by the Constitutionalists, 
and were now objects of suspicion and dislike. Even 
men like Robert Morris and Wilson, who were promi- 
nent in national councils, and earnest Revolutionists, 
were classed with these people, and came in for their 
share of the jealousy and distrust of the Constitu- 
tionalists. 

Others were men like Thomas Willing, who in 
Congress had voted against the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence to the last, who believed in the Revolution, 
but not in the way it was being conducted in Pennsyl- 

335 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

vania, who was respected by both sides, and whose 
high character and popularity saved him from annoy- 
ance. Others were men like Provost Smith, who hoped 
the Revolution would be successful, but would not 
take an active part in it. There were all kinds and 
shades of opinions of this sort, — some of them now 
rather hard to understand; and there were also the 
indifferent ones, who were waiting till it was all over, 
and would be very well content with any sort of 
settlement. 

It would have been better, of course, if all these 
people had been on the side of the patriots, and acting 
as a unit in conducting the Revolution. But to accom- 
plish that desirable result, it would have been neces- 
sary to recreate Pennsylvania from the beginning, and 
make it a homogeneous commonwealth instead of a 
commonwealth of races, sects, and factions. 

The Constitutionalists had already tried to convert 
these conservatives by force, and had failed. So they 
decided to try again. They determined to make treason 
odious, and during the summer of 1777 arrested about 
forty prominent persons, in the hope of striking terror 
into the rest. It is probable that about seven out of 
the forty were Tories. John Penn, the late governor, 
and Benjamin Chew, the late chief justice, were doubt- 
less fair specimens of that class. But the rest were 
merely Quakers, conservatives, and indifferents ; and 
among them, unfortunately, were many members of 
the best families in the State. Drinker, Pemberton, 
Wharton, Hunt, Bond, Gilpin, Roberts, Emlen, Kuhn, 
and Provost Smith are some of the well-known names 
on the list, 

336 



War 

About half of those arrested gave their parole and 
were discharged. The parole was a promise that they 
would neither do nor say anything to the injury of 
the United States. Among these was Provost Smith. 
There does not appear to have been the slightest ground 
for suspecting him. He believed the Declaration of 
Independence to have been premature, and had advo- 
cated delay. Beyond this there was no more reason 
for arresting him than there was for arresting Robert 
Morris or any of the other members of Congress who 
held the same opinion. But the provost was always in 
trouble. 

The British, having defeated Washington at New 
York, and driven him across the Jerseys, decided to 
take Philadelphia, — the capital of the colonies, and 
the seat of their Continental Congress. For that pur- 
pose a force, under General Howe, was landed at the 
head of Chesapeake Bay to proceed northward. The 
destination of this force was not at first known. Great 
preparations to start were made by the British in New 
York ; but it was not apparent whether they would go 
up the Hudson or out to sea. Washington waited in 
New Jersey; and when it became evident that they had 
gone to sea, he marched into Pennsylvania, as it was 
possible they might intend to come up the Delaware. 
When he discovered that they were in the Chesapeake, 
he placed himself between the head of that bay and 
Philadelphia, determined to give them battle. His 
final position was on the east side of the Brandywine, 
at Chadcl's Ford. 

The Brandywine, at that part of its course, has a 
general direction north and south. On the ioth of 
22 337 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

September, 1777, the British were at Kennett Square, 
directly in front of Washington's position, and to the 
westward of him, with the little river between them. 
The British numbered about eighteen thousand men, 
and the Americans about eleven thousand. 

A road ran direct from the British position at Kennett 
Square to Washington's position at Chadd's Ford; and 
on the morning of September 11, at nine o'clock, about 
one quarter of the British army, under Knyphausen, 
marched along this road, and soon engaged Maxwell's 
men, who were across the river as an outpost. Driv- 
ing them back, Knyphausen secured himself on the 
west side of Chadd's Ford, and began, with great vigor 
and much display of force, to cannonade Washington's 
position on the east side. 

It was only a ruse. The main part of the British 
army had started much earlier in the morning, made a 
long detour to the northward, crossed the Brandywine 
at a ford so high up that it had been thought unneces- 
sary to guard it, and were marching down on the 
American flank. The movement had been much 
assisted by a dense fog. 

Washington, after having been amused by Knyphausen 
all morning, got word of the manoeuvre to the north of 
him about noon, and immediately decided to cross the 
Brandywine and attack Knyphausen with his full force. 
He could easily defeat him, and would then be in a 
position to deal with the main body, that would be 
demoralized by finding their enemy in a new position 
and their ruse a failure. 

If this had been done, the course of history might 
have been very much altered. But before he could 

338 



fW. 




BATTLE FIELDS OF PHILADELPH1 



War 

execute the movement, Washington got word from 
General Sullivan that the British were not coming by 
the northward way, so he remained where he was. The 
enemy were shortly upon him from both sides, and the 
day was lost. He retreated as best he could, ■ — a few 
of his men, under Armstrong, falling back to Chester, 
and the main body crossing the Schuylkill, and 
encamping in Germantown. The wounded were sent 
in all directions, and, among others, young Lafayette, 
with a ball in his leg, to the Moravians at Bethlehem. 

Immediately there was a great alarm and scattering 
in Philadelphia. Cattle and horses were driven off; 
church -bells taken down and sunk in the river, or 
carried away to hiding-places. The floating bridges 
on the Schuylkill were removed; large vessels taken 
up the Delaware; small boats of all kinds hidden in 
the Jersey creeks, and those that could not be taken 
away burned. The public books and papers were taken 
up to Easton, on the Lehigh. The Whigs moved 
out with their families and goods, and the Tories 
complacently remained. 

But the British, though only twenty miles away from 
the city, spent two weeks in getting into it. In fact, 
it was by no means easy for them to get in. Phila- 
delphia lay in the forks between two rivers, a strong 
situation, selected by that man of peace, William 
Penn. The British would have to cross the Schuylkill, 
and how were they to do it? The floating bridges 
were all taken away. Washington and his army lay 
at Germantown, whence they could easily cover any of 
the fords; and an army in the act of crossing a deep 
stream is easily defeated by a much inferior force. It 

339 




BATTLE FIELDS OF PHILADELPHIA. 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

was a crisis. All the results of the defeat at Brandy- 
wine might be removed. If the British could not cross 
the river, they would have to retire ignominiously to 
their ships at the head of the Chesapeake; and if they 
were defeated in an attempt to cross, they could be 
driven back to their ships, harassed, and perhaps routed 
on the way. 

As the British could not hope to force a passage of 
the river in the face of Washington's army, it became 
a question of wits and manoeuvring between the two 
commanders. Howe's object was to entice Washing- 
ton to the western side, and then slip behind him, 
and cross the river. To this end a detachment of 
the British went to Wilmington and Chester, and the 
main body moved northward to the Lancaster turnpike 
near Paoli, whence they sent a party to Valley Forge 
to destroy the stores there. 

Wayne was camped, with fifteen hundred men, near 
the Paoli Inn, and, on the night of September 20, 
the British attacked him, rushing into his camp, kill- 
ing and wounding, with their bayonets, three hundred 
of his men, and taking over seventy prisoners. This 
massacre at Paoli, as it was ever afterward called, 
from the ruthlessness of the slaughter, was a great 
shock to the feelings of the patriots. It was the first 
and also the last time that Wayne was ever surprised. 

Washington, not altogether wisely, thought he could 
do something with Howe on the other side of the river, 
and he marched from Germantown, and crossed the 
Schuylkill to attack him. He followed the Lancaster 
turnpike, and met the British at the Warren Tavern, 
a little west of Paoli. But a rain-storm coming on, 

340 



War 

the ammunition of both parties was wet, and the battle 
could have been fought only with swords and bayonets, 
which neither side seemed inclined to risk. 

The British, however, saw their opportunity of get- 
ting easily into Philadelphia; and in the night they 
attempted to slip off and cross the Schuylkill at the 
Swedes Ford, a little below Valley Forge. Washing- 
ton was on the watch for this move, reached the ford 
ahead of them, and, crossing to the other side, presented 
an insuperable barrier. 

But Howe was still able to outwit him. He made a 
feint of marching up the west bank of the river, appar- 
ently to get a crossing higher up; and when he had 
the Americans following along the opposite shore, he 
slipped his whole force across the Swedes Ford. He 
was now between the rivers, and had, in effect, taken 
Philadelphia. He moved down to Germantown Sep- 
tember 25, and on the 26th entered the city. 

The whole campaign was most disastrous. Washing- 
ton's force was, it is true, inferior to the British; but 
a little luck, or, rather, a little accurate information, 
might have enabled him to win the battle of the 
Brandywine. After that, he still had a chance, and 
might have prevented the British crossing the Schuyl- 
kill, or have inflicted a severe defeat upon them while 
they were in the act of crossing; but he was distinctly 
outmanoeuvred by Howe, both at Brandywine and at 
the ford. The unfortunate affair of the ford was re- 
garded by many as inexcusable, and was the principal 
cause of the attempt to remove Washington, and place 
the successful Gates in command. 

The Hessians, who were always put to the front in 

34' 



Pennsylvania : Colony and Commonwealth 

everything, were the first to enter Philadelphia, march- 
ing in with terrible looks and fierce mustaches, dressed 
for the occasion, and their music seemed to thunder 
out plunder, plunder, plunder! The English grena- 
diers were very different. They entered in an easy, 
good-humored manner, with none of the airs of the 
conqueror. To a little lad, who ran up to the front 
rank as it halted for a moment in the street, some of 
them said, "How are you, my boy? " and several shook 
hands with him. The little fellow had been heart- 
broken at the sight of the awful Hessians. But the 
tranquil faces of the Englishmen restored him, and he- 
remembered their pleasant, manly words to his dying- 
day. 

Most of the army had marched in from the north by 
Second Street, and they followed that street down until 
they had crossed Dock Street, where they camped on 
the ridge of land known as Society Hill, which fol- 
lowed the southern side of Dock Creek. The artillery 
took up their quarters in Chestnut Street, between 
Third and Sixth, and parked their cannon in the State- 
house yard. The Forty-Second Highlanders were on 
Chestnut Street, below Third, and the Fifteenth Regi- 
ment at Fifth and Market. Firewood was scarce, and 
garden fences, stables, and other structures rapidly 
disappeared. 

Philadelphia was a comparatively easy place for 
them to fortify. Lying at the junction of two rivers, 
which came together like the letter V, the important 
place to strengthen was the open part of the V, which 
extended northward toward Germantown and Chestnut 
Hill. The river-fronts were easily fortified by bat- 

342 



War 

teries and guards. The open space to the north they 
fortified by a line of redoubts extending from river 
to river on the present lines of Poplar, Green, and 
Callowhill streets, turning the V into an A. 

This line of redoubts had been begun by General 
Putnam to keep the British out of Philadelphia, but 
the work was abandoned after the successful battle of 
Trenton, which, it was supposed, rendered all defence 
of the city unnecessary. The British now completed 
these defences, which had been intended to be used 
against them, and while they were engaged in the 
work kept a strong force out at Germantown. This 
force rested its left on the Schuylkill, near the mouth 
of the Wissahickon, and extended eastward along 
Schoolhouse Lane, across Germantown, and along 
Mill Street to the Old York Road. Washington and 
his army lay some ten or fifteen miles to the north- 
ward, at White Marsh; and it seemed to him that it 
was a good opportunity to attack this outpost and 
drive it in on the city before the works were completed. 

This plan, which resulted in the battle of German- 
town, was carried out on the morning of October 4. 
The American army was divided into three divisions. 
One division, under Armstrong, passed down near 
the Schuylkill, to attack the British at the mouth of 
the Wissahickon and on Schoolhouse Lane. Another, 
under Wayne and Sullivan, went by what is now the 
Main Street of Germantown, to attack the British 
centre at Market Square, and was followed by the 
reserves. The third division, under Greene, went by 
way of the Lime Kiln turnpike against the right wing 
of the enemy, which rested on the Old York Road. 

343 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

The troops under General Potter, which were patrol- 
ling the country west of the Schuylkill, were ordered 
to make a feint at some of the ferries close to the city, 
and prevent reinforcements from going to German- 
town. The attack, it was hoped, would be almost 
simultaneous along the whole English line. 

The Americans started in the night, so as to reach 
Germantown about daybreak, and the king's troops 
were taken by surprise. Armstrong, on the American 
right, reached the mouth of the Wissahickon, and 
fought the enemy there, but was unable to drive them 
back, and get on the British rear, as was intended. 
Wayne and Sullivan were more successful. Marching 
down the turnpike, which formed the Main Street of 
Germantown, they met a strong outpost at Mount Airy, 
and drove it before them down to the British centre 
at Market Square, which was thrown into confusion. 
Wayne's men had only a week or two before been sur- 
prised at Paoli, and had seen some of their comrades 
cruelly butchered. They now revenged themselves, 
and bayonetted the English without mercy. Nothing 
prevented their complete triumph except that Greene 
had been too successful on the American left. He 
had attacked the English right wing on Mill Street, 
near the Lime Kiln turnpike, defeated it, arid, turning 
eastward, along Mill Street, pressed into the English 
centre just at the time when Wayne was atoning for 
his misfortunes at Paoli. An early morning fog, 
mixed with smoke, obscured everything. Wayne and 
Sullivan mistook Greene for a reinforcement of the 
enemy, and retreated. 

The reserves which were following Wayne and 

344 



War 



Sullivan were delayed. Part of the outpost which 
Wayne drove back to the centre had taken possession 
of the mansion of Chief Justice Chew, which still 
stands about a hundred yards from the east side of the 
road. As the Reserves came up, and found what 
appeared to be a stronghold of the enemy, they stopped 
to besiege it. They acted upon the rule that an advan- 
cing army must not leave a fortress of the enemy in 
its rear. But the delay was unfortunate. Greene, 
deserted by- Wayne and Sullivan, and unassisted by 
the Reserves, was obliged to retreat; and when he had 
fallen back as far as the Reserves, they all retreated, 
and what promised to be a most important victory for 
the Americans was lost. 

Wayne always insisted that, if it had not been for 
these unlucky mistakes, he and Greene could have 
driven the British back into the city and out of it, and 
ended the war. Washington was also deeply disap- 
pointed, and fretted himself for a long time over the 
misfortunes of that day. 

But eminent military authorities have held that the 
Americans gained all that was possible from the situa- 
tion. If they had driven the British back upon the 
town, the whole force, under Cornwallis, would have 
rushed out, fresh and vigorous, to find before them an 
inferior force of Americans, worn out with the long 
pursuit, and twenty miles from their camp. Washing- 
ton's army might have been annihilated. But, as it 
was, he gained the credit, among military men in 
Europe, of having prepared a most excellent plan of 
battle, which was more than half successful, and failed 
through almost unavoidable accident. The courage 

345 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

and energy with which the Americans made the attack, 
and the fierceness with which mere militiamen used 
the bayonet upon regulars, were well calculated to 
restore the drooping spirits of the patriots, and, what 
was equally valuable, inspire France with the impor- 
tance of an alliance. 

The British continued to hold Germantown. But 
when their line of redoubts along Green and Poplar 
streets was completed, the Germantown force was 
withdrawn. The redoubts, which were built largely 
of apple-trees and all sorts of material collected on 
the spot, were ten in number, stretching from river to 
river, from Green and Front streets, on the Delaware, 
to the present Park entrance at Spring Garden Street, 
on the Schuylkill, and the spaces between these 
redoubts were protected by abatis, stockades, and 
batteries. Simcoe, with the Queen's Rangers, was at 
Redoubt No. i, on the Delaware, where he carefully 
guarded the great Treaty Elm from desecration, and 
was supposed to let in the few supplies which the 
farmers of the country could secretly furnish the 
enemy. The Hessian grenadiers were encamped from 
Fifth to Seventh streets, and between Vine and Cal- 
lowhill streets. Next were the English grenadiers, 
extending to Broad Street, with other divisions beyond. 
Nearly the whole force was, in this way, massed close 
against the redoubts in the open portion of the V, 
which was the important place to protect. But they 
could not yet settle down to a quiet enjoyment of the 
city, for the forts and vessels which commanded the 
river were still in possession of the Americans. 

There were three forts : Mifflin, on the Pennsylvania 

346 



War 

side, just below the mouth of the Schuylkill; Red 
Bank, almost opposite to it, on the Jersey side; and 
Billingsport, also on the Jersey side, a little farther 
down. Between these forts the chevaux dc /rise, in- 
vented by Franklin, were stretched across the channel, 
and effectually prevented the British men-of-war and 
supply ships from reaching the city. Above the 
chevaux de frise, and protected by the guns of the forts, 
lay the American war vessels, consisting of galleys, 
floating batteries, and ships. Part of them belonged to 
the Continental fleet, and the rest to the State navy. 
When the British entered Philadelphia these vessels 
had gone up abreast of the town, and fought the bat- 
teries that were placed upon the wharves, and tried to 
sweep, with their shot, the streets that led down to the 
river. They were driven back, several of them cap- 
tured or destroyed, and they were now content to lie 
under the shadow of the forts. 

But, in spite of the defeat of these vessels, General 
Howe was in the peculiar position of having possession 
of the city, and yet unable to communicate with the 
ships under command of his brother, Admiral Howe, 
which lay below the cJievaux de /rise. This was a 
serious inconvenience ; for, as the country all around 
was overrun with American scouting and skirmishing 
parties, he would have to draw most of his supplies by 
way of his brother's fleet in the river. 

Washington had now another possible chance to 
atone for Brandywine and Swedes Ford. It might be 
that the British, in taking Philadelphia, had gone into 
a trap. Their supplies by land were cut off, and, if 
the river could be held against them, they could be 

347 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

besieged and starved into a surrender. They and the 
Tories in the city were already suffering and paying 
enormous sums for the commonest sort of provisions. 
Washington was determined to hold the forts as long 
as possible. He strengthened their garrisons in every 
way he could devise, and the letters he wrote to the 
officers on the importance of the situation were pathetic 
in their appeals. The British were equally determined 
to take the forts, and the struggle continued for a 
month after the battle of Germantown; during which 
time provisions became scarcer and scarcer in the city, 
and the English soldiers, who could see down the river 
the masts of the ships containing supplies for them, 
became more desperate in their attempts than ever. 

Of all the battles of the Revolution, there were few 
in which there was such desperate, furious fighting 
and such heroic valor as was seen in the grass and mud 
of Fort Mifflin and on the sands of Red Bank. 

Billingsport was the first to fall, and it was taken 
on the ist of October, a few days before the battle of 
Germantown. Two regiments of British went down 
to Chester, crossed over to Raccoon Creek, near the 
present site of Bridgeport, on the Jersey side, and 
moved up against the fort. It was garrisoned by 
about two hundred and fifty men, under Col. William 
Bradford, and was too large to be defended by such a 
small force. As it was not of much importance com- 
pared with Mifflin and Red Bank, and could not be 
defended, Bradford abandoned it, carrying away the 
ammunition and most of the guns, and spiking the 
rest. The British entered, and took up the row of 
chevaux de frise in front; but this was of small advan- 

348 



War 

tage, for the obstructions between Mifflin and Red 
Bank still remained. 

Fort Mercer, at Red Bank, was next attacked. It 
had been garrisoned by New Jersey militia; but 
Washington now placed in it four hundred veteran 
Rhode Island troops, commanded by Colonel Greene, 
and Greene was warned that the fate of America 
depended on his exertions. The fort at Red Bank 
was, like Billingsport, too large to be defended by any 
force that could at that time be spared. But Greene 
tried to make it smaller by dividing the outer from the 
inner works. He decided to make his first stand in 
the outer works, and then fall back to the interior 
lines, which he had greatly strengthened by an earthen 
rampart and an abatis of trees. 

Instead of going down to Chester to cross the Dela- 
ware, as they had done in the attack on Billingsport, 
the British succeeded in getting from their fleet a 
number of small boats, which passed unseen through 
the ckevaux de frise, and by the forts in the dead of 
night, and reached Philadelphia. On October 21, these 
boats transported from the city, across to Cooper's 
Point, now Camden, about twenty-five hundred men. 
They were all Hessians, under the command of Count 
Donop. They began their march down to Red Bank 
on the morning of the 22d, but it was not till the 
afternoon that Greene saw them emerging from the 
woods in front of him. 

They sent an officer to demand a parley with him, 
who, when allowed to speak, announced that the King 
of England ordered his rebellious subjects to lay down 
their arms, and if they should refuse and stand battle, 

349 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

no quarter would be given. The Americans accepted 
the challenge, and agreed that there should be no 
quarter on either side. 

The Hessians immediately began to build an earth 
battery, and about four o'clock opened fire. It was 
returned by Greene. The American galleys in the 
river came up within range, and also opened. Under 
cover of the smoke, Donop divided his men into two 
columns, and rushed to the assault. The column under 
Minigerode suffered severely from the fire of Greene's 
men and the galleys as they ran over the intervening 
space; but when they reached the outer works, they 
found them abandoned, and the inner works were 
silent. Thinking the fort secured, they waved their 
hats, shouted victory, and rushed on. Greene allowed 
them to come close to the inner works, when he gave 
them a volley. Still they pressed on, reached the 
abatis, and were pushing aside the branches, when 
they received another volley, from the effects of which 
their officers with difficulty rallied them. They came 
on again to the abatis ; and, another volley throwing 
them into complete confusion, they ran around to the 
river-front of the fort, where the galleys played upon 
them until they fled back to the woods. 

Donop' s column met with slightly better success, 
got beyond the abatis, but was stopped by the wall, 
eight or nine feet high, surmountable only by scaling- 
ladders. They could not endure the deadly fire from 
within, and joined their comrades in flight. 

Greene had lost only eight men killed, and twenty- 
nine wounded. But four hundred killed and wounded 
Hessians lay in heaps around the fort. The survivors 

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War 



hastened back to Philadelphia, cursing the British, 
who always exposed them to the worst danger, and in 
this instance had sent them, without ladders, to scale 
the wall. 

From one of the heaps of Hessian dead came a voice, 
"Whoever you are, draw me hence." It was Count 
Donop, still alive. Captain De Manduit, a French 
officer serving with Greene, went to his assistance, 
and he was carried on blankets into the fort. The 
soldiers who bore him could not refrain from remind- 
ing him that he had agreed that no quarter should be 
given. "I am in your hands," he said; "you may 
revenge- yourselves. " De Manduit silenced the men, 
and Donop said, " You seem to be a foreigner. Who 
are you ? " " A French officer, " said Manduit. " Then, " 
said Donop, " I die content. I am in the hands of 
honor itself." He lived for three days, cared for at the 
house of a Quaker near by. He begged De Manduit 
to tell him when the end was approaching; and when 
that sad duty was performed, Donop said, "It is finish- 
ing a noble career early; but I die the victim of my 
ambition and of the avarice of my sovereign." 

At the same time that Donop attacked Red Bank, the 
British fleet attempted to break through the chcvaux de 
frise, to support him. The frigates " Augusta " and 
"Roebuck," and four smaller vessels, succeeded; but 
the "Augusta " and " Merlin " were soon aground near 
the mouth of Mantua Creek, and in the evening the 
" Roebuck " met with the same fate. They could do 
nothing to aid Donop, and the next day were attacked 
by the American galleys and fire-ships, assisted by the 
guns of Fort Mifflin. 

35* 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

It was the most important naval battle the "Dela- 
ware " had seen. For hours the firing was incessant, 
and great efforts were made to get other vessels up 
through the chevaux de /rise. The " Isis " was being- 
warped through the obstructions, while the guns boomed 
on both sides, and clouds of smoke rolled over the 
water. A hot shot set the " Augusta " on fire; and 
while her crew were jumping overboard, and escaping 
in boats, the flames reached the magazine and blew 
her into the air. Soon after the " Merlin " was set on 
fire and abandoned, and the remaining British vessels 
returned to the fleet. 

So far the Americans were successful, and still held 
the forts. The battle of Saratoga had now been 
fought, and Burgoyne had surrendered to General 
Gates. There was no enemy in the north, and if 
Gates' army had been brought to reinforce Fort Mifflin, 
the British in the city might have been permanently 
cut off from their ships. But it was a long march to 
bring Gates' army down to Philadelphia; and Gates, 
inflated with his success, saw before him the possi- 
bility of the chief command, and was in no hurry to 
help Washington. Meantime the British were making 
every effort to reduce the fort. 

Mud Island, on which Fort Mifflin stood, was at 
that time almost in the middle of the river, with a 
channel between it and the Pennsylvania shore, now 
long since filled up. The fort had been built to fight 
ships coming up the river, and its weakest side was the 
one toward the Pennsylvania shore. As the British 
occupied Philadelphia, they could take advantage of 
this; and they accordingly began planting batteries on 

352 



War 

Province Island, which lay close against the main 
shore, separated from it only by a narrow creek or 
thoroughfare. 

One of the first batteries they built was taken by 
the Americans; but after that they built battery after 
battery, and were favored with very high tides, which 
flooded the meadows and prevented an assault. They 
progressed in their work until they had five batteries 
mounting twenty -four heavy guns, besides mortars and 
howitzers. They also prepared two old hulks of ves- 
sels, with nineteen guns, to be floated close to the fort. 
The fleet moved up to support the attack, having over 
two hundred guns on the large vessels, besides those 
carried by the smaller craft. 

To resist this terrible onset of heavy metal, Col. 
Samuel Smith, in command of Fort Mifflin, had only 
three hundred men, and about twenty guns. The 
galleys in the river could give him some assistance, 
and also the fort at Red Bank, which was still held 
by Col. Christopher Greene. But the time for sav- 
ing Mifflin was evidently passed. The batteries on 
Province Island should have been attacked before they 
grew so strong. Plans had been prepared for that end, 
but they were frustrated; and the garrison must now 
rely on their own efforts and the strength of the fort's 
walls. 

On the ioth of November the batteries on Province 
Island opened, the garrison replied, and the heavy 
firing only ceased with nightfall, after which the 
British fired a gun every half- hour. The next day the 
storming again began. The exhausted garrison, after 
fighting all clay, had to work through the night, to 
2 3 353 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

repair the breaches and destruction as best they could. 
Relief parties were sent from Red Bank every evening, 
to assist in the repairs, and withdrawn in the morning. 
Colonel Smith was wounded, and Colonel Russell took 
the command. Ill health and fatigue soon exhausted 
him, and Major Simeon Thayer took his place. 

At the close of the fourth day the firing was kept up 
all night, and the two hulks were brought into the 
channel between the fort and the Pennsylvania shore. 
They opened fire as soon as day broke, with terrible 
execution, the batteries on shore joined in, the guns 
from the fleet in the river below began to thunder; 
and the shots were cross-fired in several directions 
over the fort. A great pall of smoke rose into the 
air, and covered the river and meadows. 

But the little garrison steadily served their guns, 
and Commodore Hazlewood, of the galleys, concen- 
trated his attack on the hulk called the "Vigilant." 
The wind was against him; and as he kept warping his 
vessels into position, the cables were repeatedly shot 
away. But he got to the place he wanted to reach, and 
opened on the " Vigilant." Thayer sent him word to 
attack the frigate "Isis," and he himself would attend 
to the "Vigilant;" and before noon the "Vigilant" 
was silenced. 

At night the little garrison again repaired their 
works, and at dawn their flag was still flying. But, 
under cover of the darkness, the "Vigilant " had moved 
to a new position, and was within a hundred yards of 
the fort, on its weakest side, where scarcely any of the 
guns could be used. The men in her tops could shoot 
muskets and throw hand grenades down into the fort, 

354 



w 



ar 



and when the cannonade from the ships and batteries 
began, the garrison could not reply ; for not a man could 
step out on the platform to handle the guns without 
being shot from the "Vigilant." They could only 
keep under cover, and let the fort be demolished over 
their heads. Palisades, parapet, and block houses 
were shot down and levelled, and at the close of 
the day there was nothing of Fort Mifflin but a heap 
of ruins. 

Of the three hundred men two hundred and fifty were 
killed and wounded. But Thayer would not haul down 
his flag. When night came, as much of the ammuni- 
tion as could be saved was placed in boats ; and, after 
setting fire to the barracks and ruins, the garrison, 
with their wounded, went across to Red Bank. They 
had endured a siege of six days, which at the time was 
considered one of the most remarkable in history. 

Two clays after the fall of Mifflin, Lord Cornwallis, 
with two thousand men, started to cross the river at 
Chester, and attack Red Bank. On reaching the Jersey 
side he was joined by a large force under General 
Wilson, sent from New York. Varnum was now in 
charge of Red Bank, and Washington sent General 
Greene, with two thousand men, to his relief. But, 
believing the defence of the fort useless and hopeless, 
Varnum abandoned it to the British. 

With Red Bank in the hands of the enemy, and the 
British fleet about to remove the chevaiix de /rise and 
come up the river, there was no safety for the American 
galleys and other vessels which had done such good 
service. They attempted to pass up the river and get 
by the city to the safer waters of the upper Delaware. 

355 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

This also failed, and the ships were either captured 
or set on fire by their commanders. It was now the 
middle of November. The British settled down to 
enjoy themselves in the city, and Washington retired 
to Valley Forge. 

356 



British Pass a Pleasant Winter in Philadelphia 



CHAPTER XXIV 

THE BRITISH PASS A PLEASANT WINTER IN 
PHILADELPHIA 

Philadelphia, which the British fought so hard to 
gain, was of very little use to them. They soon became 
convinced of this ; but they were in it for the winter, 
and had to pass away the time. 

Their amusements were confined very strictly within 
the limits of the two rivers and the line of forts on 
Poplar Street; for the country outside of these bounds 
was controlled by the Continentals. Potter held the 
country west of the Schuylkill ; and a dashing free- 
booter, named McLane, was likely to appear suddenly 
at any point from within gunshot of the redoubts on 
Poplar Street to Washington's first camp at White 
Marsh. 

After the fall of Fort Mifflin and Red Bank, how- 
ever, the British indulged themselves in one piece of 
amusement outside of their lines, which may have 
given them some satisfaction at the time, but which 
they all probably lived to regret. From the line of 
their redoubts, at Poplar Street, northward to the out- 
skirts of Germantown, were many pretty country-seats, 
— the summer homes of Whig and Tory, — containing, 
in days of peace, the most typical and pleasant life of 
the times. A few of them escaped, and are still stand - 

357 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

ing; but twenty-seven of them, which we might now 
enjoy for their simple and perfect architecture, were 
ruthlessly burned to ashes. At one hour on a certain 
day, late in the autumn, the people on the roofs and 
steeples of the city could see seventeen of these old 
homes blazing up at once. 

The decline in the value of the paper currency was 
as troublesome to the Tories, who were now locked up 
with the British, as it had been a few months before 
to the Whigs. In the hope of making values more 
stable, a number of people pledged themselves to take 
the currency at the value it had had before the Declara- 
tion of Independence. About six hundred names are 
signed to this agreement, — all of them presumably 
Tories, or Tory sympathizers; and the list has often 
been used to discover who were not patriots in those 
days. The names of many good men are on it, whose 
friends and relations would have been very glad, a few 
years later, if the list had been forgotten. But just at 
that time most of them were doing very well in the 
company of the British officers. 

Dining-clubs became more numerous than ever. 
Even the journeymen tailors had one. There were 
balls and amusements of every kind. The officers 
played cricket, and had cock-fights. In all these things 
Major Andre bore a prominent part. He was unques- 
tionably the most accomplished and attractive young 
man in the British army. He could sketch, paint, 
write verses, and get up sports and entertainments 
with more than the usual skill of the amateur. Some 
of his Revolutionary verses, especially those on Wayne's 
raid, near New York, will probably live as long as the 

358 



British Pass a Pleasant Winter in Philadelphia 

memory of the contest. He was young, and, though at 
that time best known for his gayety, was, nevertheless, 
a trusted and valued officer. 

It was a loss to mankind that, two years afterward, 
his first serious business was with that deep-dyed vil- 
lain, Arnold. But for that we might now remember 
him as a distinguished general or statesman, and one 
of England's greatest men. As it is, we have only to 
record that he was the life and soul of the little theatre 
on South Street. There was considerable dramatic 
talent in the army, and a few professional actors to help 
them out. But copies of the popular plays of the day 
were not a necessary part of an army's equipment, and 
the young actors were obliged to advertise for them in 
the newspapers. About a dozen were obtained, with 
such titles as "The Mock Doctor," "The Deuce is in 
it," "The Wonder: a Woman kept a Secret," which, 
by being repeated, were made to last all winter. 

They painted their own scenery; and Andre painted 
a particularly pretty piece of landscape, with trees, 
meadows, and streams. It had his name on the back, 
and was preserved for a long time. In 1807 lt was use d 
in a patriotic play, which represented its author's cap- 
ture by the two soldiers, when he was escaping from 
the interview with Arnold. It would be a valuable 
relic now; but it was burned with the theatre, in 
1827. 

While these things were going on, the American 
prisoners in the Walnut Street jail, on Washington 
Square, were in charge of a wild beast named Cun- 
ningham. It is difficult to believe all that is said 
of this man. It appears to have contributed to his 

359 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

enjoyment to upset their dishes of food, and sec them 
scramble for it on the dirty floor. But it was not often 
he indulged them in toed. At one time they had to 
powder the rotten wood of an old pump, mix it with all 
sorts of vile scrapings, including old paint they had cut 
from the walls, boil the mass in a pot, and eat it. They 
are said to have watched the holes in the building to 
catch the rats, which they skinned and ate raw. In 
the long winter nights they kept warm by sleeping 
huddled together in one corner in a promiscuous heap. 
As they died, they were tumbled into pits in Wash- 
ington Square, to mingle with the bones of Indians, 
paupers, criminals, and Tory spies. 

Another contrast to the pleasures and gayety of 
the British in Philadelphia was the suffering of the 
American army in its winter-quarters at Valley Forge, 
where they watched the enemy, and kept him penned 
within the town. The disasters of the campaign, which 
had aroused a strong party, anxious to deprive Wash- 
ington of the command, had also resulted in an utter 
demoralization of all those departments of government 
which keep an army supplied with clothes and pro- 
visions. As soon as cold weather set in, the soldiers 
were in a serious plight, ami ready to break out in 
mutiny. Washington reported that three or four days 
of excessively bad weather might leave him without an 
army. " Few men," he said, " had more than one shirt, 
many only a moiety of one, and some none at all." 
More than twenty-eight hundred were unfit for duty 
because they were barefoot, and many sat up all night 
round the fires because they had no blankets to sleep 
in. But the approach of spring brought a change. 

360 



British Pass a Pleasant Winter in Philadelphia 

Departments of supply were organized; clothes and 
food arrived; and, as the good weather appeared, 
Valley Forge also had its little theatre and plays, and 
the men indulged themselves in cricket and other 
games of ball. 

By the time spring came it was evident that the 
English were weary of the town, and wanted a change. 
They were accomplishing nothing, and General Howe 
was not adding to his reputation. He had the city, 
but Washington made him stay in it, and his only way 
of liberty was down the river. After the battle of 
Germantown, and before Washington left White Marsh 
for Valley Forge, Howe had started out to attack him, 
but he returned without seeing the American camp; 
and the intrenchments and redoubts on that long hill- 
side at Valley Forge kept him quiet for the rest of the 
winter. His successor, Sir Henry Clinton, arrived 
May 7, 1778; and the officers decided to give their 
departing general a grand fete, which would be a token 
of their regard for him, and a fitting close to the 
festivities of the winter. 

This fete was the famous Mischianza, — an Italian 
word, meaning "medley," a great delight to the young 
men and women who took part in it, and a magnificent 
folly to some of their elders and all sober-minded 
historians. Andre said that General Howe was so 
popular that the whole army would gladly have con- 
tributed to the expense, but the line had to be drawn, 
and only twenty-two field officers were allowed to sub- 
scribe. The invitations were issued for the 18th of 
May, and had on them the Howe coat-of-arms, with a 
motto to the effect that the great general's sun was 

361 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

now setting on this side of the Atlantic, only to rise 
in greater splendor on the other. 

Walnut Grove, the country-place of Thomas Wharton, 
known as Duke Wharton, a Quaker of considerable 
dignity, was selected as the scene of the festivity. It 
was in what is now the southern part of the city, near 
the river. Its large lawn gave ample room for the 
tournament, and wooden pavilions, and ball and supper 
rooms were added to the house. Andre and the other 
officers exhausted their skill in decorating these rooms 
in a style and taste which, curiously enough, is now 
restored to this country, after slumbering a hundred 
years. The color of the ball-room was a pale blue, 
panelled with a small gold head, and within the panels 
were drooping festoons of flowers in their natural 
colors. But perhaps Andre himself had better finish 
the description: — 

" Below the surbase the ground was of rose pink with 
drapery festooned in blue. These decorations were height- 
ened by 85 mirrors decked with rose pink and silk ribbons 
and artificial flowers, and in the intermediate spaces were 34 
branches with wax lights ornamented in a similar manner." 

With the lights all lit, and reflected from eighty-five 
mirrors, and everything pink, blue, and gold, with 
uniforms and dresses in harmony, it was unquestionably 
a perfect dream of a ball-room. Four drawing-rooms, 
with similar decorations, opened out from it, and there 
were large sideboards, with refreshments on each. 
Twenty-four jet-black slaves, in Oriental dresses, with 
big silver collars round their necks, and silver brace- 
lets on their naked arms, were drawn up in two lines, 

362 



British Pass a Pleasant Winter in Philadelphia 

and bent their heads to the floor, as the great general 
and conqueror of all America entered. 

The fete began, in the afternoon, with a grand 
regatta, which started from Knight's Wharf, at the foot 
of what is now Green Street. There were galleys and 
barges and boats of all sorts, lined with green cloth, 
and covered with streamers and pennants; and there 
were other barges to guard them, and keep the swarms 
of spectator boats from pressing upon the procession. 
The men-of-war — the " Fanny," the "Roebuck," and 
others — manned their yards with men, and covered 
their rigging with the flags of all nations, among which 
appeared, here and there, the stars and stripes. The 
broadsides thundered their salutes, and great clouds 
of white smoke rolled along the tide. There never had 
been such a scene upon the Delaware. 

The procession rowed slowly down to the Association 
Battery, or Old Fort, as the English called it, which 
was near the spot where Washington Avenue now 
touches the river. There, while the " Roebuck " and 
"Vigilant" poured salutes from their sides, the people 
crowded and marched between lines of grenadiers and 
cavalry up the slight ascent to Walnut Grove. The 
lawn was lined with troops, and across the middle of 
it the gay medley of officers, ladies, and citizens pro- 
ceeded, headed by all the bands of the army, playing 
their music. They arranged themselves in the pavil- 
ions, and immediately the trumpets sounded, a band 
of horsemen rode into the open space, others followed, 
and a mock tournament began. 

But why should we enlarge on all the details, and 
tell how, after the tournament, they crowded into the 

363 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

garden of the old country-place, among triumphal 
arches, and bomb-shells, and flaming hearts, and how 
they drank tea and lemonade, and how the knights, 
on bended knee, received the favors of their mis- 
tresses ? A faro table was provided in one of the rooms, 
and soon after dark they began to dance in the ball- 
room. At ten they stopped for an hour or two to see 
the fireworks, and at twelve entered that gorgeous 
supper-room ; and after supper, and healths to all that 
was royal and destruction to all that was rebellious, 
they danced again, until the sun, rising over the 
Jerseys, and shining on the swift tides of the Delaware, 
told them that the great fete was over, and another day 
begun. 

Washington and his officers had not been honored 
with an invitation to this display; neither had Potter 
and McLane, who raided the country up to the city 
gates. But McLane determined to have a hand in it 
in some way. He saw the fireworks go up, and he said 
he would have some of his own. He divided his men 
into squads, and, provided with camp-kettles filled 
with tar, they crept up in the darkness to the long line 
of redoubts that stretched along Poplar Street from the 
Delaware to the Schuylkill. They painted everything 
within reach, at a given signal touched it with fire, and 
retired. The flames gathered headway slowly, then 
suddenly shot up high above parapet and embrasure, 
and the startled soldiers beat the long roll on the whole 
line, and fired every cannon from river to river. The 
fleet took it up. Broadside after broadside roared, and 
even the transports fired their little guns. The bat- 
teries along the wharves replied, and the artillery that 

3 6 4 



British Pass a Pleasant Winter in Philadelphia 

guarded Southwark. All the battles that had been 
fought round Philadelphia, the siege of Fort Mifflin, 
and all the noise that has been heard since, could 
scarcely, together, have equalled this extraordinary 
midnight serenade. The ladies at Walnut Grove 
checked their partners in the dance, and startled looks 
went round the room. The officers scarcely knew what 
had happened; but they quieted their fears. It was a 
salute, they said, — part of the ceremony, — which had 
been arranged from the beginning. 

The men on duty, however, could not regard it in 
that light. The cavalry passed out of the redoubts, 
and dashed into the darkness after those unbidden 
guests. But the guests had a long start, and they were 
very fleet. Some of them scattered in different direc- 
tions. Most of them followed the Ridge Road, and, 
long before their pursuers could see their heels, had 
plunged into the dark ravines of the Wissahickon. 
McLane swam his horse across the Schuylkill, and 
joined Washington at Valley Forge. 

The shivered lances and the slashing swords of the 
Mischianza tournament seemed to arouse the martial 
spirit of the British army, and they resolved to have 
a bout with Washington. He was now offering them 
a good opportunity. He was expecting Philadelphia 
to be evacuated almost every day, and had sent 
Lafayette, on the day of the Mischianza, with about 
two thousand men, across the Schuylkill to occupy 
Barren Hill, and descend upon the city at the first 
opportunity. 

Lafayette's force lay encamped upon the hill between 
the Schuylkill and the Ridge Road, below Matson's 

365 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Ford, and below the road to White Marsh. It seemed 
to the English a fine opportunity, and they sent General 
Grant, with eight thousand men, to make a detour far 
to the eastward, follow the White Marsh Road, and get 
behind the young Frenchman. While this was being 
done, General Grey was to march directly upon Lafa- 
yette's left flank, and Howe and Clinton, with another 
force, were to proceed close along the side of the 
Schuylkill, against Lafayette's front, cut him off from 
the fords, and join Grant in the rear. 

The plan seems to have been a very close copy of 
the battle of Germantown. The whole attacking force 
was sixty-five hundred, more than treble the numbers of 
Lafayette. The British were jubilant in their expec- 
tation of success. Sir Henry Clinton had then suc- 
ceeded to the command ; but Howe seems to have both 
originated and conducted the expedition. He invited 
some ladies to dine with him that evening and meet 
his distinguished prisoner, and a frigate was prepared 
to take the prisoner to England. 

The attacking force left the city on the evening ot 
May 19, the day after the Mischianza, intending to 
surprise their enemy on the following morning, as 
they themselves had been surprised by Washington 
at Germantown. Six hundred Pennsylvania militia 
were guarding the White Marsh Road on Lafayette's 
rear. They neglected their duty, and moved off, so 
that the eight thousand British under Grant, coming by 
that road, were close upon Lafayette when they were 
discovered. Not in the least disconcerted, he formed 
part of his force into columns, with orders to show 
themselves at different points, as if they were advanced 

366 



British Pass a Pleasant Winter in Philadelphia 

detachments of larger parties. As soon as the British 
saw them they halted, and prepared for action; and 
while they were thus occupied, Lafayette and the rest 
of his men slipped back to Matson's Ford. The men 
who had checked the British gradually joined him, and 
the whole force crossed in safety to Valley Forge. 
When the two attacking parties, under Grant and Sir 
William Erskine, finally met at Barren Hill, they 
found nothing but an empty camp. It was a clever 
piece of soldiering for the little Frenchman, and 
resembled the shrewd tactics he afterward displayed 
in Virginia. 

Howe returned, in deep disgust, to dine with the 
ladies, without his lively prisoner; and the army and 
the Tories were equally disappointed. It would have 
been such a neat ending to the campaign and the 
Mischienza; it would have atoned for the long indo- 
lence and imbecility of the winter to have gone back 
to England with the marquis. 

Almost a month passed before the city was evacu- 
ated. Washington watched every movement, and 
Howe and Clinton were careful to make everything as 
uncertain as possible. It had been difficult to enter 
the city, and it was no easy matter to leave it, without 
giving the Americans an opportunity for an attack. If 
they could come upon the British in the act of crossing 
the Delaware, they might inflict a terrible defeat. On 
the 3d of June, three regiments crossed the Delaware 
to the Jersey side, and camped on the present site of 
Camden, with their lines extending down as far as 
Gloucester. On the 18th, the evacuation took place 
by the remaining troops marching southward into the 

367 



Pennsylvania : Colony and Commonwealth 

neck near the junction of the two rivers, and cross- 
ing over, by boats, to Gloucester, where they joined 
the three regiments that had preceded them, and all 
marched through the Jerseys to New York. The 
crossing was thus amply protected by the troops at 
Gloucester and by the ships in the river. 

As soon as the troops had all crossed to New Jersey, 
the fleet sailed, beating slowly down the river, and 
not reaching the capes for eleven days. About three 
thousand Tories accompanied them, — a large portion 
of the population of the city, which never again 
returned. They amused themselves as best they could 
on the long voyage down the river, and relieved the 
monotony by visits from ship to ship. 

The last soldiers had not left the built-up portion of 
the city before McLane and his cavalry dashed through 
the gates of the redoubts. They rode fast down Second 
Street, and as they turned up Walnut, and crossed the 
bridge over Dock Creek, captured Captain Sandford, 
who had lingered a little too long. They heard that 
Howe and his retinue were farther up town, and they 
started in pursuit; but they were too late. He had 
just passed beyond South Street, and was joining the 
troops in the neck. 

Washington immediately put General Arnold in 
command of Philadelphia, and pursued the British 
through New Jersey. Their retreat gave him the 
opportunity he wanted, and he defeated them in the 
battle of Monmouth. 



368 



Toryism and Paper Money 



CHAPTER XXV 

TORYISM AND PAPER MONEY 

Philadelphia, though abandoned by the enemy, was 
in a condition of shocking demoralization, and needed 
a strong control. The British had left it ruinous and 
dirty. The town, at that time, was famous for its 
cleanliness and neatness, the handsome trees in its 
streets, and its pretty houses, surrounded with gardens. 
The British had cut down the trees for fire-wood, 
dumped everything they did not want in the streets, 
and destroyed houses and buildings of all sorts, with 
the same impartiality for Tory and patriot which 
they had shown in the destruction of the country- 
places. 

But there were worse things than ruined houses and 
dirty streets, among which Tories and officers had been 
holding such high carnival. The town was without a 
government, full of desperate, reckless characters, and 
parties swayed by violent, bitter feelings. Tories, and 
even neutrals, had become arrogant from living with 
the army, and were inclined to be offensive to the 
patriots. Many of them had not only sympathized 
with the army, but assisted it, and had been employed 
by it. The battles, the dead, and the wounded, the 
cruelty to prisoners, had not tended to soften old 
hatreds. The patriots were thirsting for vengeance, 
24 369 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

and many of them were ready for mob violence and 
lynching. 

In the minds of the extremists among the patriot 
party, all shades of Toryism were guilty alike; and 
they determined to stamp them all out by force, and 
let the scaffold and the rope play an important part. 
A number of these extreme patriots signed an agree- 
ment by which they bound themselves to bring all 
Tories to justice ; and, in reading over their signatures, 
one cannot but be impressed on finding that, except 
Reed's, there is scarcely an important or well-known 
name among them. The prominent people among the 
patriots, like Robert Morris, Wilson, and others, were 
inclined to be moderate and easy with the Tories. It 
was the new and obscure people, just come to power, 
that wished to be violent. 

To a certain extent, the extremists had their way, 
and it is true, as has been sometimes said, that at this 
time Philadelphia was ruled by a mob. But the mob 
was somewhat restrained by the better element. Men 
like McKean, Cadwalader, Robert Morris, Dr. Rush, 
Wilson, Clymer, and Ross, saw the absolute futility 
of violent measures against the Tories as well as 
their cruelty. So they managed to give the mob a 
modified vengeance, allowed them to pick out indi- 
viduals here and there to be hung as examples, confis- 
cate property, and frighten people by publishing them 
as traitors. In this way they prevented what might 
have been a reign of terror. 

The two victims who finally became the examples, 
and appeased the fury of the radicals, were Carlisle 
and Roberts. They were tried, on the recommenda- 

370 



Toryism and Paper Money 

tion of Chief Justice McKean, in the criminal court 
of oyer and terminer, under the State law against high 
treason. Carlisle was a carpenter, and Roberts was a 
miller. Both were apparently Quakers. Carlisle, dur- 
ing the British occupation, had been put in charge of 
one of the gates of the northern line of redoubts, and 
had issued passes. Roberts' principal offence had 
been enlisting, and persuading others to enlist, in the 
British army; but his persuasions had not been very 
successful. 

The trial and conviction of these two men aroused 
the greatest excitement, and brought out all the various 
shades of opinion in the community. Twelve of the 
grand jurors, who indicted them, at the same time 
recommended them to mercy, and ten of the petit 
jurors, who tried Roberts, and found him guilty, also 
recommended him to mercy. Petitions for pardon 
came in from every side. There were three hundred 
and eighty-seven who signed Carlisle's petition, and 
among them Dr. Rush, General Cadwalader, and other 
members of the patriot party. Nine hundred signed 
in favor of Roberts. But it was all in vain. They 
were executed in the most public manner, driven in 
carts with ropes round their necks, and their coffins 
before them. 

Arnold had been placed, by Washington, in com- 
mand of Philadelphia, to repress lawlessness; but his 
insolence and corruption soon made him intolerable 
to all parties. Great efforts were made to have him 
removed; and he was finally tried by court-martial, and 
escaped with only a reprimand. He was deep in spec- 
ulations and government contracts; grew rich, and 

37i 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

married Miss Shippen, the daughter of one of the most 
prominent families. He settled a fortune on himself 
for life, with remainder to his wife and children, and 
bought Mr. John Macpherson's country-place, Mount 
Pleasant, for his family mansion. 

The depreciation of the currency and the fluctua- 
tions in prices gave vast opportunities for speculation. 
Robert Morris was still following his calling of deal- 
ing in flour, or lead, or anything that could be carried 
in a ship, was constantly suspected, attacked, and 
called on to explain. His explanations always showed 
his transactions to have been legitimate, and that he 
turned over a large part of his gains to the Continental 
Government, which he was constantly assisting with 
his advice and encouragement. 

But still the mass of the people, especially in the 
Constitutional party, were not satisfied. They at- 
tempted to make speculation a crime, to be punished 
by law. They insisted on regulating prices, and fixing 
the amount that was to be paid for everything. That 
would settle the whole question, they said; cut off the 
noisome race of speculators, and give a stable value 
to the currency. They were so sure this remedy would 
be effective that they were ready to fight about it. A 
writer in Dunlap's "Packet" expresses the general 
feeling with great simplicity. 

" The regulation of prices is absolutely necessary. We 
have all been wrong in our notions of getting rich. It is 
true we have got money. I have more money than ever I 
had; but I am poorer than ever I was." 

While all this excitement among the Constitution- 
alists was at its height, in the autumn of 1779, an d 

372 



Toryism and Paper Money 

not meeting with much success against either the 
Tories or the speculators, the militia decided to take 
a hand in it. They appointed a committee, posted 
placards against Robert Morris, Wilson, and others, 
and announced that they were in pursuit of Quakers, 
speculators, Tories, and all lawyers who defended them. 
On the 4th of October two hundred of them marched 
down Chestnut Street, and seized several Quakers as 
they were coming out of meeting. They then turned 
along Second to Walnut, and went up Walnut to 
Wilson's house, which stood at the southwest corner 
of Walnut and Third streets. 

Wilson, General Mifflin, Clymer, and other Anti- 
Constitutionalists, and men of moderate views, know- 
ing that they had been singled out by the mob, had 
gathered in this house for protection. The city troop 
of cavalry had also been in readiness, but, as the morn- 
ing passed quietly, they had gone home. The militia 
mob was marching up Walnut Street, had almost passed 
Wilson's house, and all might have been well if a cer- 
tain Captain Campbell had not leaned out of the win- 
dow, shaken his pistols at the mob, and ordered them 
to move on. They instantly fired, and killed him. 
The fire was returned from the house, and soon became 
general. The mob got heavy timbers, broke in the 
doors, and for a time there was fighting and stabbing 
in the hall and on the stairs. But the rioters were 
forced out, and the door barricaded with tables. 

The mob were then in Walnut Street; and just at 
that moment President Reed, who had risen from his 
sick bed, and had not finished dressing, came riding 
down Third Street, at the head of seven of the city 

373 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

troop, with pistols in his hands, and his clothes not 
yet all buttoned. He turned suddenly into Walnut 
Street, and charged. A cry of " The horse, the horse ! " 
was raised, and, it being supposed that he was followed 
by the whole city troop, the militia rioters fled. Reed 
took many of them prisoners on the spot, and spent a 
large part of the afternoon in picking up others about 
the town ; twenty -seven in all. Only two had been 
killed by the fire from the house. 

As Reed was riding away from Wilson's house, he 
met Arnold quietly driving to the scene of disturbance 
in his carriage. Reed instantly ordered him to return, 
and Arnold obeyed, which shows how he was regarded 
and treated in Philadelphia. A little while afterward, 
however, he drove down to Wilson's house, went up- 
stairs, and, after brandishing a pair of pistols out of 
the window, said that President Reed seemed to have 
raised a commotion which he could not quiet. 

The Constitutionalists were now more than ever 
under the leadership of Reed, who was president of 
the Supreme Executive Council. He seems, on many 
occasions, to have been opposed to the violent measures 
which the extremists of his party wished to take 
against the Tories and Republicans. But in this year, 
1779, he made himself responsible for an attack which 
can scarcely be called justifiable. 

Driven from office and power, and almost even from 
social influence, the class of men who had once ruled 
the colony were gathered together in the college. 
This was their last stronghold, their only title to 
importance in local politics or power. Men like Robert 
Morris and Wilson, signers of the Declaration of 

374 



Toryism and Paper Money 

Independence, who stood high in national councils, 
were rapidly becoming mere ciphers in the government 
of their State. If they could be kicked out of the 
college, or the college destroyed, it would seem to be 
all that was necessary to make them utterly contemp- 
tible among the people, destroy the last vestige of their 
influence, break up the Anti-Constitutionalists, and 
make the Constitutionalists the one party of the State. 
This was the task Reed set himself to perform, and 
there seems but little doubt that he was inspired by no 
higher motive than mere partisan success. 

The Constitutionalists had already handled the col- 
lege as roughly as they could. They had quartered 
soldiers in it, suspended the functions of its trustees, 
and called it a nest of Tories and traitors. There was 
nothing to show that it was a resort of traitors. Treason 
was not taught there. It had done nothing to favor the 
British interest ; nor had it failed in showing a proper 
respect to the government. The Continental Congress 
had been invited to attend one of its commencements, 
and many of its officers were active patriots. 

But still every one knew that the college was to be 
attacked. The old hatred for the proprietary party and 
the new hatred for the Anti-Constitutionalists could not 
resist such an opportunity. Even in 1776 the college 
was believed to be in danger from the party that was 
forcing upon the State the new Constitution. While 
the convention was in session that year, a meeting of 
prominent men was held at the house of Provost Smith; 
and Franklin, who was in the convention, agreed to 
propose a clause for the new Constitution, which would 
protect the college, and also the Philosophical Society, 

375 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

and any other institution which might tempt the 
cupidity of the extreme Revolutionists. The clause, 
as finally adopted, was to the effect that all societies 
of religion and learning should continue to enjoy the 
same rights and privileges which they had had under 
the former laws of the Commonwealth. This pro- 
vision, if it was obeyed, was ample protection to the 
college, and had thus far protected it. But the Con- 
stitutionalists now felt that they were strong enough 
to disregard it. 

Of the twenty-four trustees of the college, all but 
three had taken the oath of allegiance. The three 
who had not taken it were Richard Penn, William 
Allen, and Dr. Bond. Penn and Allen were out-and- 
out Tories, and had left the country. Dr. Bond still 
remained; and to show how absolutely insincere Reed 
and his party were in giving Toryism as a reason for 
destroying the college, they made Dr. Bond a trustee 
of the new college, which they created on the ruins of 
the old, and joined with him three others who had 
never taken the oath of allegiance, one of whom had 
been a chaplain in the British army. Their real reason 
for the attack was not on account of the Tories that 
were in the college, but on account of the patriots 
that were in it. The recent vacancies in the Board of 
Trustees had been filled by Robert Morris, Francis 
Hopkinson, Alexander Wilcocks, Edward Biddle, John 
Cadwalader, and James Wilson, three of them signers 
of the Declaration of Independence, and one of them 
a general in the Continental army; but, so far as 
Pennsylvania politics were concerned, Anti-Constitu- 
tionalists. 

376 



Toryism and Paper Money 

It is needless to give the details of the spoiling of the 
college. All the proceedings against it were consum- 
mated Nov. 27, 1779, when the Assembly passed an 
Act declaring the college charter void, dissolving the 
Board of Trustees and the Faculty, and giving all 
the property of the institution to new trustees of the 
Constitutionalist party, who were to be called The 
University of the State of Pennsylvania. 

The Assembly seem to have supposed that great 
universities could be created on paper. They destroyed 
a true college, the slow growth of years, containing the 
first and greatest medical school in America, and put 
in its place a sham. The interests of good education 
in Philadelphia have not yet recovered from this blow. 
For the next eleven years there were two colleges in 
Philadelphia, both of them worthless. 

The members of the old college held themselves 
together in some form, though without corporate exist- 
ence, and kept working to get back their stolen prop- 
erty. The new State University also dragged along in 
opposition, and, though the pet of the Assembly and 
endowed with confiscated estates, ended its career in 
bankruptcy. To make up for this double worthless- 
ness, the Episcopal Academy was founded, which still 
exists as a school for boys, but could not make up for 
the loss of the college. Provost Smith was, in effect, 
banished, and retired to Maryland, as Dickinson had 
to Delaware. 

Robert Morris and his friends were destined to suffer 
another defeat. The paper money had depreciated 
until it was now almost worthless, and the Constitu- 
tionalists determined to enhance its value by having a 

377 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

fresh issue of it, coupled with a set of laws to enforce 
its acceptance, more complete than anything of the 
kind known before, which would teach the world a 
new lesson in finance. 

These laws were passed on the 6th of April, 1781, 
and inflicted severe penalties in the way of fines, on 
any one who refused to accept the paper at its face 
value. The Anti-Constitutionalists were by this time 
a well-routed party; but they had the courage of their 
convictions, and could still make a stand. Robert 
Morris and General Mifflin led the little minority of 
them in the Assembly. The debate was long and 
earnest; and if we could have heard it, or it had been 
recorded, it would doubtless reveal many now unknown 
depths of the revolutionary contest in Pennsylvania. 
At the end of it Morris and Mifflin prepared a protest 
against the triumph of their adversaries. The pro- 
test was probably written by Morris, and its trenchant 
words are those of a man whose mind has been ham- 
mered into clearness in the heat of conflict. 

1. "Because the value of money, and particularly of paper 
money depends upon the public confidence, and when that is 
wanting laws cannot support it, and much less penal laws. 

2. "Because penalties on not receiving paper money must 
from the nature of the thing be either unnecessary or unjust. 
If the paper is of full value it will pass current without such 
penalties ; and if it is not full, compelling the acceptance of 
it as equal to specie is iniquitous. 

3. " Because such penalties impair the public credit. They 
show a diffidence of the paper in those who emit it, and thereby 
raise a like diffidence in those who receive it. Their tendency 
therefore is to injure instead of benefiting what they are 
intended to support. 

378 



Toryism and Paper Money 

4. " Because it is inconsistent with the principles of liberty 
to prevent a man from the free disposal of his property on 
such terms and for such considerations as he may think fit. 

7. " Because every measure to enforce the acceptance of 
money renders it the interest of debtors to depreciate it. 

8. " Because experience has demonstrated that such meas- 
ures have not prevented depreciation." 

The man who wrote these words was rightfully 
trusted by the Continental Government as its financier, 
and his exertions are generally believed to have saved 
its credit. But in his own State the mob seem to have 
believed that in public finance he was stupid, if not 
corrupt, and they classed him with Tories and Tory 
sympathizers. 



379 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 



CHAPTER XXVI 

DICKINSON AND THE PROVOST RETURN FROM 
BANISHMENT 

Lord Cornwallis had surrendered at Yorktown, 
Oct. 19, 1 78 1. Though the treaty of peace was not 
signed until 1783, the war was over; and Paine could 
announce in his last pamphlet that "the times that had 
tried men's souls had passed." 

The cessation of hostilities relaxed the violence of 
the extreme patriots, and, indeed, brought on a strong 
reaction in favor of the Moderates or Anti-Constitu- 
tional party of Morris and Wilson. Reed, the leader 
of the extremists, became suddenly very unpopular, 
especially with the commercial and business classes, 
and could get no practice on his return to the bar. 
This was the opportunity for Dickinson and the 
provost, and they returned to Philadelphia, Dickinson 
immediately, and the provost some years later. Dick- 
inson came to secure a vindication, and the provost to 
get back his college. 

Dickinson was, in 1782, soon after his return, nom- 
inated as a candidate for the Supreme Executive Coun- 
cil. The attacks on his motives and conduct during 
the Revolution were renewed. He wrote to all the 
newspapers, asking them to publish everything they 
received against him, but nothing in his favor, — a 

380 



Dickinson and the Provost Return 

request which they seem to have fulfilled to the letter. 
He himself said not a word in his own defence, but 
left it entirely to the people whom he had lived with 
and served so long. He was elected by an overwhelm- 
ing majority, and immediately afterward chosen by 
the legislature President of the Council, — an office 
which at that time corresponded to Governor of the 
State. Then, when the vindication was complete, he 
published a refutation of all that had been urged against 
him. 

Twice during his life he had been overwhelmed by 
unpopularity; and twice the people had returned to 
him, and each time trusted him more implicitly than 
before. They recognized in him, with al 1 his faults, 
a quality more important than mere ability, — a superb 
moral courage, in which he was equalled by no other 
character in American history. 

The provost's triumph was longer delayed than 
Dickinson's, and was not so complete. In 1784, he 
and the persons who had been the trustees of the col- 
lege applied to the Assembly for a restoration of their 
charter and property. A bill in their favor was about 
to be passed by the majority, which was then largely 
Anti-Constitutional ; but the minority resorted to the 
method much in vogue at that time, absented them- 
selves, and prevented a quorum. It was not until 1789 
that the provost returned to Philadelphia to receive 
back again, from the hands of a repentant Assembly, 
what he always insisted on calling "My college." For 
a time he was much elated, and believed that every- 
thing would be as it had been, and looked forward to 
many years of collegiate success. In the preamble 

381 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

to their Act, the Assembly said that the law of 1779, 
despoiling the college, had been "repugnant to justice, 
a violation of the Constitution of this Commonwealth, 
and dangerous in its precedent to all incorporated 
bodies." 

But they could not restore the past or bring back 
life. The wound had been too deep. The eleven years 
of death had broken up the tone, the traditions, and 
the spirit of the old College of Philadelphia, and it 
never could be made to live again. Its rival, the 
State University, was still alongside of it, and within 
a year or two it became evident that neither one was 
accomplishing anything. A union was suggested and 
effected, and a third institution appeared, which was 
the present University of Pennsylvania. 

But the provost was not connected with it, and it is 
doubtful whether he ever cared to be. Its Board of 
Trustees was made up of representatives from every 
party, clique, and faction in the city, in the hope that 
the more dissimilar and disunited they were the more 
they would work in harmony. It was a miserable 
failure. From the year 1794 to the year 1830, this 
hotch-potch University never graduated more than 
seven students a year in the department of arts, and 
sometimes went down as low as three. The only part 
of it which managed to pull itself together and make 
a name was the medical school, which shows how 
strongly rooted among us are institutions of science. 
It was not until after the Civil War that the healing 
effects of time and the energetic administration of Dr. 
Stille began to restore some of the ancient strength 
and usefulness. 

382 



Dickinson and the Provost Return 

When the Assembly repented of having destroyed the 
provost's college, it would have been well if they had 
repented of an attempt they made to destroy the Bank 
of North America. Robert Morris and a few other 
people had long wanted a bank. There were none in 
the colonies, and as Philadelphia became the capital 
of the country and a money centre, the need of some 
such institution was often felt. Morris and others had 
made a slight attempt before the Revolution by estab- 
lishing a credit in Europe, which was used for banking 
purposes among commercial men, and which, in time, 
they intended to develop into a real colonial bank. In 
1780, however, the Bank of Pennsylvania, the first in 
America, was founded, to assist Congress in purchas- 
ing supplies for the army. The men who established 
and supported it were the moderate patriots, like 
Morris, and the same people who had supported the 
college. They were the Anti-Constitutionalists, in 
other words, and were bitterly opposed by Reed and 
the Constitutionalists. The bank, Reed and his party 
said, was an injury to the paper money of the State, 
and in 1784 he had the satisfaction of seeing it wound 
up and closed. 

Meantime, Robert Morris had been made Superin- 
tendent of Finances for the Continental Congress, and 
even in 1781, before he assumed that office, he had 
submitted plans for another bank, to be incorporated 
by Congress, and called the Bank of North America. 
It was to be on a specie basis, aid the national govern- 
ment by its money and credit, and supply the loss of 
the paper money, which was becoming more and more 
useless, and the source of infinite mischief and fraud. 

383 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Indeed, at this time the Continental paper money was 
worse than the State money, and $500 of it were worth 
only one dollar in gold. Sailors put it in their hat- 
bands, or wrapped it round the necks of dogs, and 
paraded the streets. 

The bank was chartered by Congress, and also in 
April, 1782, by the Pennsylvania Assembly. It proved 
to be most useful. Morris declared that without it he 
could not have carried on the finances of the nation. 
Its effect had been most salutary on business of all 
kinds. It brought about punctuality among all classes 
in money matters, and in the government economy and 
order. The troops were regularly clothed, fed, and 
paid; the hospitals well supplied, debts paid, and better 
men secured in the civil service. It brought specie 
into circulation again, and its own notes passed with 
the same credit as silver. 

But this restoration of specie was a terrible crime 
in the minds of Reed and the Constitutionalists. The 
bank was vilified in every way as a fraudulent 'scheme 
to enrich its own promoters, and cheat the people and 
the soldiers. It was said to be overissuing and ex- 
pending beyond its limits. Its solvency was ques- 
tioned. Foreigners might buy its stock, and in time 
make it a means to rule America. It was growing so 
powerful that it would soon rule the State, and it 
ruined the State paper money. The feeling against it 
was one of those fanatical and ill-regulated popular 
outbursts, which we have known, in our own time, 
under the name of Granger movements, Populism, or the 
Greenback or silver craze. It was very much the same 
feeling, and among the same sort of people, that after- 

384 



Dickinson and the Provost Return 

ward, in Jackson's time, wrecked the Bank of the 
United States. 

Unfortunately, there was in Pennsylvania no consti- 
tutional check upon such madness of the people, and 
they could wreak their vengeance, without let or 
hindrance, on a college or a bank. The Pennsylvania 
Assembly, in 1785, annulled the bank's charter, as 
they had revoked, six years before, the charter of the 
college. The bank, however, still had its charter from 
Congress, and went on under that. But the Assembly 
were satisfied in thinking that they had done it all the 
harm they could. They had driven its stock down 
below par, and they might have ruined it and every 
one connected with it, if it had not been for the 
Congressional Charter. 

There were so many doubts, however, in the public 
mind, as to the validity of the charter from Congress, 
that efforts were immediately made to secure another 
State charter, and one was obtained from Delaware, Feb. 
2, 1786. In 1787 the Pennsylvania Assembly was per- 
suaded to re-charter the bank for fourteen years, and this 
charter was renewed in 1799. In 1790 the bank dis- 
solved its connection with the national government, and 
has ever since been among the best, as it was the first, 
incorporated bank in Pennsylvania and in America. 

The havoc played with the college, and the havoc 
that might have been played with the bank, was a great 
warning to the American people, a strong incentive to 
the adoption of the National Constitution, and one of 
the reasons for that little sentence in it which says 
that " No State shall pass any law impairing the 
obligation of contracts." 

25 385 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

The despoiling of the college had been accomplished 
directly in the teeth of a provision of the State Consti- 
tution, which said it should not be done. Every one 
knew that the Act of Spoliation was unconstitutional, 
and the men who passed it knew that it was unconsti- 
tutional, and yet there was no way of preventing it. 
There was no supreme authority of the United States, 
and no Supreme Court of the United States, to declare 
such legislative proceedings void. The spoilers knew 
this, and knew that they could act with impunity. 

The clause inserted in the National Constitution to 
prevent such deeds was never construed by the Supreme 
Court of the United States until 1819, and then, 
strangely enough, the case was another instance of col- 
lege spoliation. The Legislature of New Hampshire 
had attempted to do with Dartmouth College what the 
Legislature of Pennsylvania, almost fifty years before, 
had done with the College of Philadelphia ; that is to 
say, they had attempted, by an alteration of the Charter, 
to take away the college from one set of people, and 
give it to another set. This Dartmouth College Case, 
which attracted so much attention for several years, and 
was so ably argued by Daniel Webster, decided that 
the grant of a charter was a contract between the legis- 
lature and the corporation which could not afterward 
be impaired or altered by the legislature without the 
corporation's consent. Upon this decision has been 
built up the enormous power and usefulness of railroad 
manufacturing, and other business companies, which 
have played such an important part in the development 
of the United States. Under this decision they have 
been protected from Granger, Populist, and other fanat- 

386 



Dickinson and the Provost Return 

ical movements in different States, which would have 
crippled or destroyed them. 

There have been times when the people have 
believed that this decision protected the corporations 
only too well, increased their power for evil, as well as 
for good, and attempts have been made to restrict the 
limits of the protection and make exceptions to it. 
But the ravages that State legislatures committed 
before there was such protection seem to show that, if 
the protection is excessive, it is excess on the safer 
side. It has given a stability to investment and enter- 
prise, commercial as well as religious, collegiate, and 
scientific, which could not have been had without it. 
Its inconveniences, whatever they may be, are prefer- 
able to the mob rule of the Pennsylvania Assembly of 
1779 or 1785. 

The Convention which framed the National Consti- 
tution sat in the old State-house in Philadelphia from 
May to September, 1787. As has just been shown, 
the experience with the Pennsylvania Assembly in its 
treatment of the college and the bank added a most 
important clause to the national document, — a clause 
to which is largely due the enterprise and prosperity 
of the whole Union. 

Wilson proposed this clause to the convention, and 
secured their adoption of it. He had been a friend 
and supporter of both the bank and college; he was 
an able and accomplished lawyer; and there was no 
one better fitted for such a task, which was not without 
difficulty, because a check of this sort on the action of 
States in dealing with charters was rather new. But 
Wilson's wording of it, "No State shall pass any law 

387 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

impairing the obligation of contracts," though only a 
simple, short sentence, has stood the test of nearly a 
hundred years of judicial decision, and is now a firmly 
established principle. He introduced into the word- 
ing some of his own personality. He was an ardent 
student of the Roman law, and the word "obligation" 
he took from that source. It had no technical mean- 
ing in the English common law, and was afterward a 
little puzzling to the lawyers. But it is probable that 
they have given it the full meaning Wilson intended. 

Pennsylvania's unfortunate experience in boundary 
disputes with Connecticut and Maryland was an incen- 
tive to the adoption of some form of national gov- 
ernment which would give an authority for settling 
antagonisms between States. A clause was accordingly 
inserted in the Constitution giving the Supreme Court 
jurisdiction of such controversies. 

But the most conspicuous addition to the Constitu- 
tion came from Dickinson. He represented Delaware 
in the convention and advocated the cause of the small 
States. It was at first proposed that the representation 
in the Senate should be like the representation in the 
House, proportional in some way to the population or 
wealth. This would have given a great advantage to 
large States and tended to crush the smaller ones. 
Dickinson maintained that in the Senate all the 
States should be equal, and his advocacy secured the 
adoption of this important provision. He drafted 
the section which prohibits a mew State from being 
formed out of parts of two other States without the 
consent of the States from which the parts are taken. 
He also took a leading part in the discussion of the 

388 



Dickinson and the Provost Return 

powers of the executive. This was his last conspicu- 
ous public service, and he showed his usual ability and 
vigor. 

The Constitution, having been framed by the con- 
vention, was submitted to the States for adoption. A 
petition signed by over three thousand names was at 
once presented to the Pennsylvania Assembly, urging 
them to take such measures as would secure the ratifi- 
cation of this new frame of National Government. 
But great opposition was shown, and it appeared prin- 
cipally among the Constitutional party, — the party of 
jealousies and suspicions, the party that had suspected 
the college, as well as the bank, of designs on liberty, 
and now had the same suspicions of the new form of 
nationality. 

Moreover, the National Constitution as prepared by 
the convention had avoided all the defects of a nu- 
merous executive, single legislature, and council of 
censors, which were so conspicuous in the State Con- 
stitution of 1776. If the National Constitution were 
adopted, it would be a standing comment and rebuke 
on the State Constitution and would compel its amend- 
ment or abolition. Everything, therefore, which gave 
to the Constitutionalists their name compelled them to 
oppose the new federalism. 

One of their most prominent leaders against federal- 
ism was William Findley, — a man very conspicuous in 
politics for the rest of the century and who now ap- 
pears for the first time. He was a descendant of some 
of those Scots who fled their native country under 
the persecutions inflicted on their religion during the 
reign of the last two Stuart kings. He came to the 

389 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

frontier of Pennsylvania in 1763 when very young, 
and grew up with all the instincts and opinions of 
the community. He belonged to the farmer class, 
and during the early part of his career was too poor 
to employ any laborers on his little plantation. 
His education was very deficient, and he was one 
of the few prominent Scotch-Irishmen of whom this 
could be said. But he possessed great force of 
character, incorruptible integrity, and strong com- 
mon-sense. He was captious, suspicious, and narrow- 
minded, and his portrait looks like the face of a keen 
old farmer. 

The most conspicuous leader against him was 
Wilson, who had been in the Convention, was ardently 
in favor of the National Constitution, and has the 
credit of securing its ratification by Pennsylvania. 
He was ably assisted, of course, by Robert Morris 
and others and all the Anti-Constitutional or Repub- 
lican party. 

A motion was made in the Assembly to call a State 
convention to discuss the question of ratification. 
There was a majority in favor of it. But the Consti- 
tutionalists asked for delay, and before the final vote 
was taken secured an adjournment till afternoon. Hav- 
ing thus got an excuse for leaving the house, sixteen of 
them refused to return, and a quorum was prevented. 
The next day, their device having become well known, 
a party of citizens seized two of them at their lodgings 
and dragged them by force to the Assembly. They 
were compelled to remain, and, their presence securing 
a quorum, the motion was passed, and the convention 
ordered to be called. It met, and after long debate the 

390 



Dickinson and the Provost Return 

draft of the National Constitution was ratified by it, 
Dec. 12, 1787, by a vote of 46 to 23. 

The Anti-Constitutionalists, having been so success- 
ful in securing the Federal Frame of Government, had 
now an opportunity to get a new Constitution for the 
State, and abolish the bungling contrivance of 1776. 
That instrument had been the object of their detesta- 
tion for nearly fifteen years. So strong was the feel- 
ing against it among all the better-informed classes 
that the lawyers, who for the most part belonged to 
the Anti-Constitutional party, had an understanding 
among themselves never to accept office under it. The 
legislature, being only one body, was easily driven by 
popular clamor to rash, precipitate, and oppressive ac- 
tion. In this way the college had been despoiled, the 
attack made on the Bank of North America, and there 
would doubtless be other oppressions in the future. 
In addition to this, the judges were not made suffi- 
ciently independent, the Council of Censors was capa- 
ble only of making trouble, the numerous executive 
was weak and ridiculous, and every one who accepted 
office was obliged to take an oath that he would never 
do or say anything injurious to the Constitution, — an 
oath which was a serious infringement of the citizen's 
right to free speech. 

The National Constitution, which avoided all these 
difficulties, and was an elaborate contrivance of checks 
and balances against excessive power in any one body, 
having now been adopted and approved by the whole 
country, there was good reason for thinking that Penn- 
sylvania should have a government of the same sort. 
A convention was easily obtained, and what has since 

39T 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

been known as the Constitution of 1790 was adopted. 
It was in almost every respect a copy of the National 
Constitution, and in its general features has not been 
very much altered by the constitutions of 1838 and 

1873. 



39 2 



The Whiskey Rebellion 



CHAPTER XXVII 

THE WHISKEY REBELLION 

The Whiskey Rebellion, or the Western Insurrection, 
as it was called at the time of its occurrence, was an 
outbreak among the Scotch-Irish. They were moun- 
taineers ; and the mountain ranges of the eastern 
part of the United States have from time immemorial 
shown a tendency to produce a population which often 
occupies itself in the distillation of whiskey. Of late 
years this tendency is more apt to be shown in Ten- 
nessee and West Virginia ; but in the eighteenth cen- 
tury it was very prominent in Western Pennsylvania. 

The cause of it was simply that whiskey was the most 
easily transported form in which grain could be sent to 
market. Mountain-roads are hard roads to travel even 
without baggage ; and to transport wheat or corn over 
them in large quantities is almost impossible. But 
a great many bushels of grain reduced to a small 
quantity of whiskey could easily be carried on a pack- 
horse, and the whiskey was equivalent to more than the 
value of the grain. A horse could carry about sixteen 
gallons ; and in crossing from the western to the eastern 
side of the Alleghenies his load doubled in value. 

During the general high prices that prevailed while 
the French Revolution lasted, the farmers near the sea- 
board grew rich. P>ut in the mountains, or west of the 

393 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

mountains, the Scotch-Irishman's wheat and rye were 
almost useless to him unless he turned them into 
whiskey. Distilleries were started, and soon in some 
regions it was difficult to get out of sight of their black 
smoke. When, therefore, the newly created Congress 
put a tax on whiskey, it seemed to the excitable 
Scotch-Irish as if the law was aimed exclusively at 
themselves ; and it certainly bore more heavily upon 
them than on any other set of people in the Union. 

They had at that time reached the height of those 
feelings of independence and pugnaciousness which had 
so long characterized them. For nearly a hundred years 
they had been living in the interior of the country. 
They had been continually quarrelling with the govern- 
ment at Philadelphia, and on one occasion had marched 
with arms in their hands against the Quakers, and the 
two parties had been on the eve of bloodshed. They 
had seen themselves growing rich and numerous. They 
had long been accustomed to resent any interference 
from any sort of power. They felt that they were a 
State in themselves. They had just come out of the 
Revolution, in which they had taken a most active 
interest and part. They were more than ever in favor 
of liberty, and more than ever confident of their ability 
to maintain it. 

In addition to all this, the French Revolution was at 
that time in its fiercest throes of insanity. Its wild 
ideas had penetrated the Alleghenies, and for a moment 
had over-excited the generous impulses and unseated 
the steady reason of the Scotchman. 

An intense dislike of excise laws and excise officers 
was hereditary with the Scotch-Irish. Their firesides had 

394 



The Whiskey Rebellion 

been entertained for a hundred years with the stories 
of successful resistance to such demands in the old 
country. The Pennsylvania excise law could never 
be enforced among them, and after the Revolution, 
when an attempt was made to enforce it, the collector 
of Westmoreland County was caught by a mob, who 
shaved his head. 

The national excise law which was passed soon 
afterward created the greatest excitement. Meetings 
were held; and in September, 1791, Robert Johnson, a 
collector, was tarred and feathered. An insane man 
named Wilson, who pretended to be a collector, was 
treated in the same way ; and others who sympathized 
with the excise law or rented houses to collectors were 
also painted with the tar-brush. In one instance the 
victim was left tied to a tree in the woods. These 
outrages continued from time to time for several years, 
until on July 16, 1794, there came an open conflict with 
the authorities, and blood was shed. 

A company of militia, numbering about thirty-six, 
presented themselves before the house of the inspector, 
General Nevelle, and, as they answered his questions in a 
suspicious manner, were fired upon. They returned the 
fire, but were obliged to retire with five of their 
number wounded and one killed. The next day they 
returned, five hundred strong, set fire to the house, and 
captured its occupants. 

Two weeks afterward an attempt was made to 
capture and plunder Pittsburg. A great mass meeting 
was held at Braddock's Fields, and the townsmen were 
greatly alarmed. The country people had openly 
announced that they would take the town. " Sodom," 

395 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

they said, " had been burnt by fire from heaven, but 
this second Sodom should be burnt by fire from earth.' 1 
Countrymen coolly walked into the stores, priced the 
goods, and remarked that they would get them cheaper 
in a few days. The countrywomen said of their city sis- 
ters, " There is a fine lady, but her pride will be hum- 
bled by-and-by." Pittsburg was then a straggling village 
of about twelve hundred people. But in reading these 
accounts one would suppose it was the capital of the 
world, rotten to the core with wealth, luxury, and vice. 

In fact, in all the speech and action of this time we 
can trace the effects of the French Revolution. To the 
Scotch-Irishman, half hunter, half farmer, with a touch 
of the illicit distillery, Pittsburg was Paris and the 
Alleghenies were France. The stray newspaper and the 
stray traveller had brought him the ideas of Robespierre, 
and he expressed them in the language of the Old 
Testament. 

The townsmen sent a committee to the Braddock's 
Fields meeting to conciliate the leaders, and if possible 
ward off an attack. When this committee arrived at 
the field, a wild scene met their sight. Thousands of 
armed men were already on the ground, wandering 
about, shooting at marks, or discharging their guns in 
the air from mere excitement. There was a continual 
cracking of rifles; and the smoke hung thick in the 
woods and all along the banks of the river. Most of 
the men were dressed in hunting-shirts with handker- 
chiefs tied round their heads. This was the dress 
always adopted in Indian expeditions, and it had a 
distinct meaning. It was equivalent to the Indian's 
war-paint. During the Whiskey Rebellion, when acom- 

396 



The Whiskey Rebellion 

pany of men had been seen on the roads, it was often 
anxiously asked, " Had they hunting-shirts on? " 

The townsmen's committee spent a long time in 
expostulating and humoring. But the mass meeting 
was determined to march to Pittsburg, and the com- 
mittee had to consent and pretend it was a good thing. 
The town was warned by messengers, and every 
preparation made, not for defence, but, as Brackenridge 
said, " to extinguish the fire of the ' Whiskey boys' " 
thirst, which would prevent the necessity of having to 
extinguish the fire they might apply to houses. 
Fifty-four hundred of " the boys " were carefully 
led into the town by the road farthest away from the 
garrison, to prevent temptation and accidents. They 
were led through the town and camped on the outskirts 
of it to the eastward. 

Then the work began. Every citizen who had a 
house, or anything valuable in a house, worked like a 
slave to carry provisions and buckets of whiskey to 
that camp. The taverns had all been closed; but their 
keepers were compelled to distribute their contents at 
the camp for nothing. None worked harder than the 
committee; and Brackenridge tells us that it was an 
expensive as well as a laborious day, and cost him four 
barrels of old whiskey. 

Pittsburg was saved ; but the insurrection had become 
so serious that the National Government had decided to 
move ; and preparations were made about a week after 
the attempted attack on Pittsburg. It was decided to 
send both a commission and an army, — the commission 
to pacify and the army to enforce its suggestions. The 
commission went first, getting out to the western 

397 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

country about the middle of August. The army did 
not start until about the ist of October, arriving after the 
commission had done its work, so that it was always 
debated whether there was any need for an army 
at all. 

The commissioners called a great convention of the 
people and labored by every means in their power 
to dispose them to submission, so that there would be 
no need of an army. After a month of this work they 
had brought matters to such a pass that it was con- 
sidered safe to take a canvass of the people on the 
I ith of September, when they were all to sign papers 
signifying their submission to the government. But the 
returns from this canvass were very unsatisfactory ; and 
this, coupled with their own observations, gave the 
commissioners a very unfavorable impression of the 
loyalty of the people. The march of an army seemed 
a necessity. The Scotch-Irish had been living by them- 
selves so long, administering their own laws and 
customs, and carrying on their own frontier wars, that 
they could not be convinced that they belonged to the 
National Government until the strong hand of that 
government was laid upon them. 

Accordingly the army marched, fifteen thousand 
strong. No resistance was offered, and the insurrection 
melted away at the sight of the bayonet. 



398 



The Hot- Water Rebellion 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

THE HOT-WATER REBELLION 

The Scotch-Irish having had their rebellion, the 
Germans must needs have theirs. It was a trifling 
affair, however, and influenced apparently by none of 
the causes which had been at work in the Whiskey 
Rebellion. 

At the time of the alien and sedition laws, which 
were passed during the administration of John Adams, 
a house-tax law was also passed, which required the 
measuring and registering of the panes of glass in 
windows. As the tax on whiskey had aroused among 
the Scotch-Irish the remembrance of their old-world 
struggles against oppression, so this house-tax law 
seemed to the Germans the beginning of a petty inquisi- 
torial tyranny, like many they had suffered from in 
their native land. 

They rapidly passed from indignation to violence. 
In the counties of Bucks, Montgomery, and North- 
ampton, north of Philadelphia, they threatened and 
intimidated the assessors, and the law was not ad- 
ministered. In one instance, while an assessor was 
measuring a house, a woman poured hot water on 
him, which gave the insurrection its name. It was 
also called the House-Tax Rebellion, but more usu- 
ally Fries' Rebellion. 

399 



Pennsylvania : Colony and Commonwealth 

Fries was an auctioneer, with a strong voice, and 
accustomed to harangue and amuse a crowd. He 
travelled all over the country between Philadelphia and 
Bethlehem, conducting small sales, and gaining a very 
intimate acquaintance with people of all classes. He 
had served in the Revolution, and was a man with a 
certain small amount of natural leadership and a good 
deal of distinctive character, which was increased by a 
little dog called " Whiskey," his constant companion. 

He understood the art of drawing attention to himself 
and arousing the people among whom he lived. He 
spoke to them vigorously and plainly against the house 
tax, and dressed himself in an old chapeau and plume 
with a pistol and sword in his belt. In this manner and 
accompanied by about sixty armed men, he went from 
place to place, marching to the sound of fife and drum, 
haranguing, persuading, and intimidating. He seems 
to have begun this course some time toward the close 
of the year 1798, and kept it up for many months with- 
out any interference from the government, and in that 
time he certainly succeeded in stirring up a great 
excitement. 

But during his absence one day a United States 
marshal arrested twelve of his followers and took them 
to Bethlehem and Fries immediately attempted a rescue. 
On the 7th of March, 1799, he appeared with a 
hundred armed men before the Sun Inn at Bethlehem, 
where the prisoners were confined, and with fifes and 
drums playing, demanded in a most dramatic manner 
the surrender of his friends. He was allowed to take 
them, and marched away in great triumph. 

But the governor now took a hand in the matter, and 

400 



The Hot-Water Rebellion 

at the first appearance of a sufficient force this German 
rebellion, like that of the Scotch-Irish, melted away. 
Fries hid himself in a swamp where he might have re- 
mained a long time, but his little dog " Whiskey " be- 
trayed him. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to 
death. A new trial was granted, and he was again con- 
victed ; but President Adams pardoned him. Some of 
his followers were also tried and received fines or light 
imprisonment. 



26 



401 



Pennsylvania : Colony and Commonwealth 



CHAPTER XXIX 

THE CIVIL WAR 

If the course of history followed the lines men lay down 
for it, we should expect to find that Pennsylvania had 
always been a land of peace, where the din of arms was 
never heard and skill in fighting unknown. But, strange 
to say, the commonwealth founded by an English peace 
sect, assisted by German sects of the same faith, has pro- 
duced more distinguished military men, 1 manufactured 
more war material, and had more important battles in 
more different wars fought on its soil than any other 
State in the Union. 

If we count the labor riots of recent years, the amount 
of fighting and bloodshed in the Quaker commonwealth 
is really quite extraordinary. The reader who has fol- 
lowed our history must be familiar with the horrors of 
the French and Indian Wars and the fierce fighting of 
the Revolution at Brandywine, Paoli, Germantown, and 
Mifflin. It now remains to tell of the last field of 
slaughter our State has seen, — Gettysburg, which, as the 
turning-point in the Civil War, makes good our state- 
ment of the peculiar characteristic of Pennsylvania. 

There was no question as to the side on which the 
vast majority of our people stood in the great contest 
between slave and free. The inaugural addresses of 

1 See " The Making of Pennsylvania," 236. 
402 



The Civil War 

governors, the resolutions of the legislature, and the 
general expression of opinion, all breathed devotion to 
the Union and a determination to stop secession by force. 
During Secretary Floyd's administration of the War De- 
partment at Washington in the years 1859 and i860, he 
was much occupied in depleting the Northern arsenals by 
sending their arms and ammunition to the South. From 
the arsenal at Springfield, Massachusetts, alone, he sent 
muskets enough to arm all the militiamen of Alabama 
and Mississippi. But when he attempted to remove 
from the Pittsburg arsenal forty-two Columbiads and 
four thirty-two-pounders, he was checked. The citizens 
of the town were aroused, committees appointed, and the 
volunteer militia companies put under arms. The 
excitement of the people was discreetly restrained by 
calling a public meeting, which sent a committee to 
Washington, and the order for removal of the guns 
was revoked. 

In his memorable journey to Washington to assume 
the office of President, in the beginning of 1861, 
President Lincoln stopped at Pittsburg, Harrisburg, and 
Philadelphia, making many of his most characteristic 
addresses to the people, and inspiring much confidence 
by his evident sincerity and determination to settle the 
controversy peaceably if he could, by war if he must. 
In Philadelphia he raised a flag over Independence Hall, 
the birthplace of the Constitution he was called upon 
to defend. He took off his coat, in a simple backwoods 
fashion, and laid his hands upon the rope in an earnest 
way that was never forgotten by those who saw it. A 
month or two afterward, on April 15, when he issued his 
call for seventy-five thousand volunteers, Pennsylvania 

403 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

was the first to respond, and sent the first troops to 
Washington. 

The way in which those troops went to Washington 
is one of the numerous instances that show how unpre- 
pared the North was for war. The national capital was 
in great danger of being seized by the emissaries or 
soldiers of the Confederacy. As soon as Governor 
Curtin received the call for troops, he telegraphed it all 
over the State, and five militia companies immediately 
responded, — the Ringgold Light Artillery of Reading, 
the Logan Guards of Lewistown, the Allen Rifles of 
Allentown, and the Washington Artillery and the 
National Light Infantry of Pottsville. The Ringgold 
Artillery was the first to reach Harrisburg, arriving there 
on the 1 6th, and the other four companies came in the 
next day. All were immediately sent off to Washington, 
but without arms or ammunition. Some regulars who 
accompanied them had muskets, and except for these 
there were no weapons save the sabres carried by the 
Ringgolds. 

Arrived in Baltimore, they nearly had the same ex- 
perience with the mob that soon afterward befell the 
Sixth Massachusetts. They were four hundred strong, 
but, being unarmed, had to be taken through the town 
with some care, and were guarded by a squad of police. 
Fists were brandished under their noses and every vile 
epithet that would rouse their temper applied. A single 
burst of irritation from one of them, or even a look, 
might have precipitated an attack. But they marched 
through with the indifference of veterans, reached the 
cars, and amid showers of stones and brickbats from the 
mob started on their way again. 

404 



The Civil War 

On their arrival at Washington, their numbers were 
much exaggerated, and the exaggeration undoubtedly 
assisted in stopping the execution of the plans for 
seizing the city and government. They were welcomed 
with great delight, supplied with arms and accoutre- 
ments, and immediately began barricading the Capitol 
with barrels of flour and cement. 

Immediately after the call for troops had been issued 
by the President, Governor Curtin appointed Gen. 
Robert Patterson and Gen. William H. Keim to the 
command of all the Pennsylvania troops that were 
rapidly assembling. As Pennsylvania seemed so for- 
ward, General Scott, at that time at the head of the 
regular army, placed General Patterson with the Penn- 
sylvania forces in command of what was called the 
Department of Washington, which embraced the States 
of Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and the District 
of Columbia. Patterson's headquarters were in Phila- 
delphia, and the primary object of his command was to 
protect the Capitol at Washington, and keep open the 
routes of communication through Maryland by which 
troops could be brought from the north and west. 

The route through Baltimore was closed by the mob 
and the burning of the railroad bridges. But another 
route by way of Annapolis was at once secured, by 
which the Massachusetts and New York troops made 
their way to Washington. The Seventeenth Pennsylva- 
nia Regiment, with some companies of the Third Regu- 
lars, then went to Baltimore and reopened the route 
through that city. It remained undisturbed during the 
rest of the war, and poured hundreds of thousands of 
volunteers into the Union armies. 

405 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Having been the first to protect the National Govern- 
ment and its Capitol, Pennsylvania's attention was now 
turned to the defence of her own southern border, upon 
which was the rebel State of Virginia. Maryland gave 
but little trouble. But where our border touched Vir- 
ginia was the natural highway of the Shenandoah 
Valley, and one of the easiest routes for invasion from 
the south. The other route from the south was by way 
of Washington. Mountainous and impassable country 
lay between these two routes. The whole contest cen- 
tred on the possession of one or the other of them. 
The North must hold them both ; and if the South could 
break through either one or the other, it would be 
victorious. 

The Washington line, being the most important, was 
long and stubbornly contested ; and failing to break it, 
General Lee twice attempted the Shenandoah way into 
Pennsylvania. His defeat, first at Antietam and after- 
ward at the battle of Gettysburg, showed that the South 
could break neither line and could not invade the North. 
This really decided the conflict; and two years after- 
ward, when Lee was defeated by Grant and driven from 
the Washington line, the war was ended. 

'Pennsylvania sent in all to the war three hundred and 
sixty-six thousand men. On the first call of the Presi- 
dent she sent her required quota of sixteen regiments. 
When the requirement was increased to twenty-five, she 
not only supplied that number, but offered thirty more, 
which had to be refused. In other words, if all the 
troops offered by the State had been accepted, they 
would have amounted to more than half the whole 
seventy-five thousand asked for by the President. 

406 



The Civil War 

The volunteer corps, afterward so well known as the 
Pennsylvania Reserves, was also authorized by the legis- 
lature at this time. It was to consist of about fifteen 
thousand men, to serve three years, to be carefully 
trained and equipped, and ready to respond to any call 
from the State or Nation. 

It was needed sooner than was expected. The battle 
of Bull Run was fought July 21, 1861, the Union forces 
overwhelmingly defeated, and every one supposed Wash- 
ington would surely be taken. The President instantly 
called for the Pennsylvania Reserves, and they marched. 
They entered Washington at the critical moment, and 
for the second time within four months the Keystone 
State secured the safety of the national capital. 

The Reserves were retained by the government, and 
never returned to the service of the State. They became 
famous for their steadiness and courage, and there was 
no body of troops during the war that was more re- 
spected. One of their regiments, recruited in the moun- 
tainous region along the Susquehanna, wore a buck tail 
in their hats, and was always known as the Bucktail 
Regiment. Its success and popularity led to the forma- 
tion of the Bucktail Brigade, which also achieved no 
little renown. 

About a month after the battle of Antietam a raid 
was made into Pennsylvania by the famous Jeb Stuart, 
which was quite successful. With eighteen hundred 
horsemen and four pieces of flying artillery, he pene- 
trated into the State as far as Chambersburg, which he 
easily captured, burning the warehouses, depot, ma- 
chine-shops, and military stores, and retiring in safety 
with his booty to Virginia. 

407 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

By the spring of 1863, having recovered from the 
effects of the battle of Antietam, Lee was ready for 
his second attempt to invade Pennsylvania. Great 
things were expected from it. Not only would the 
line of railroads that brought Union troops from the 
west be cut, and Pittsburg, where the heavy guns were 
made, be taken, but it might be possible to invade the 
anthracite coal-fields, destroy the mining machinery, 
and set the mines on fire. The navy of the North, its 
railroads, manufacturing industries, and its homes were 
largely dependent on this anthracite coal supply, which 
lay within a circle of a few square miles in Pennsylvania, 
and was to be found nowhere else. 

If the railroads entering this field were destroyed, the 
supply would be cut off for a long time. If the valuable 
and difficult-to-obtain machinery of the mines was de- 
stroyed, the supply would be cut off for a still longer 
time. But it was also possible to set on fire a mine, 
and the smouldering flame, once started underground, 
would burn for centuries, gradually destroying every 
vein of coal, and no human ingenuity could extinguish 
it. As the Richmond Whig tersely put it, Lee " might 
set fire to the pits, withdraw the forces sent out on this 
special duty, and leave the heart of Pennsylvania on 
fire, never to be quenched until a river is turned into 
the pits, or the vast supply of coal is reduced to 
ashes." 

Sweeping up the Shenandoah Valley and driving the 
frightened people before him like animals escaping from 
a forest fire, Lee entered our State, and attempted to 
reach Harrisburg with part of his force, and secure the 
bridge across the Susquehanna at Columbia with an- 

408 



The Civil War 

other part. Defeated in these attempts, he selected 
Gettysburg as the best place to give battle to the Army 
of the Potomac, and began to move toward it. Meade 
also moved toward the same place ; and Reynolds, being 
in the advance, met the first divisions of Lee's army just 
as they were about to enter the town. 

A battle at once began, which has usually been called 
the First Day at Gettysburg. Reynolds was killed in 
the first fire. He was a Pennsylvania!!, born at Lancaster 
in 1820, and served through the Mexican War, earning 
promotion every time he met the enemy; and when the 
rebellion opened, he advanced in the same steady man- 
ner, until on the day he was killed he was second in 
command to Meade in the Army of the Potomac. 

Doubleday succeeded him in command, and continued 
the effort to keep up the resistance. But he was slowly 
driven back from Seminary Ridge, where the battle 
had begun, to the opposite side of Gettysburg, where, 
meeting the rest of the Union army, they all encamped 
for the night on Cemetery Hill, which was strongly 
fortified and proved to be the key to victory on the 
following day. 

Lee had taken Gettysburg; but it had cost him dear. 
He had inflicted terrible loss on the two corps of the 
Union army in front of him, but his own losses had been 
greater, and he had driven his enemy into an impreg- 
nable position on Cemetery Hill. The next day the 
two armies were facing each other, — Lee on Seminary 
Ridge northwest of the town, and Meade southeast of 
the town on Cemetery and Culp's hills with his left 
extending southward to the Round Tops. 

The morning passed away, and late in the afternoon 

409 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Lee attacked the extreme Union left, which was weakly 
protected. Neither cavalry nor any strong fortification 
had been placed in that position, although the rocky 
eminence known as Little Round Top was in itself 
almost a fortress. But it was left unoccupied, and the 
enemy, seeing their advantage, made a dash for it. If 
they had taken it, they would have turned the Union 
flank, could easily have completed their assault on 
Cemetery Hill, and the day would have been lost. It 
was saved at the last moment by the wise foresight of 
Warren and the almost superhuman exertions of Vin- 
cent ; and the fighting at this point, which included the 
famous Devil's Den, was the most furious of the whole 
war. The Union troops fought from behind stone 
walls and inflicted terrible slaughter on the Confederates 
as they rushed to the charge. 

Soon after this the Union right was attacked by the 
Louisiana Tigers, who, rushing through the volleys of 
musketry, sprang over the walls among the men, spiking 
guns and fighting hand to hand. Darkness had come, 
and there was a fierce confusion of men fighting with 
clubbed muskets, stones, and rammers, the Pennsyl- 
vanians shouting to one another that they must die 
on the soil of their State rather than yield. What 
might have been the result would be difficult to say if 
Carroll's brigade had not come to the rescue, restored 
the men to their guns, and driven back the enemy. 
The Tigers lost nearly half their numbers, and were 
never again heard of in the war. 

The next day, the third of the battle, Lee, finding that 
he had succeeded only in driving Meade into a more 
compact position, in which all the weak points were 

410 



^ glllliliafliiiil^,^ Seminary Ridge 



***■ 



Ifeth 



J?Ol^i 









"v^ 



Hancock 



Cemefery) 

mu j 



SicAe/s Humphreys 

W&SXSS %/|\fll?7#^~ Meade's 

%iWW ^M^ yfarre* Headquarters 



'«*. 









BATTLE FIELD OF GETTYSBUI 



The Civil War 

being rapidly discovered and secured, decided to risk 
everything on one final desperate charge with Pickett's 
division. The point he selected for attack was on 
Cemetery Hill, about the centre of the Union line; 
and bringing all his artillery of one hundred and fifty 
guns to bear on that one spot, he cannonaded it with 
terrible intensity. Shells and solid shot hissed and 
burst in every direction, smashing the Union guns, 
exploding their ammunition, and disembowelling men 
and horses. Then, when the road was thought to be 
cut open, Pickett rushed in, eighteen thousand strong. 

It was one of the most desperate and remarkable 
charges in the annals of war. But again the Union 
soldiers were behind those loose stone walls that bound 
so many fields round Gettysburg. The musketry fire 
of the Confederates as they came up spattered against 
the rocks in vain. The artillery that had reserved itself 
poured upon them its shrapnel and canister, and the 
men in blue behind the walls waited for the near and 
deadly distance. 

" In a few moments," says Professor Jacobs, who was watch- 
ing from Gettysburg, " a tremendous roar, proceeding from the 
simultaneous discharge of thousands of muskets and rifles, 
shook the earth ; then in the portion of the line nearest us, a 
few, then more, and then still more rebels, in all to the num- 
ber of about two hundred, were seen moving backwards 
towards the point from which they had so defiantly pro- 
ceeded ; and at last two or three men carrying a single 
battle- flag, which they had saved from capture, and several 
officers on horseback followed by fugitives. The wounded 
and dead were seen strewn amongst the grass and grain ; men 
with stretchers stealthily picking up and carrying the former 






Serninaty Ridge 



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fifth. 



Pl d<t 



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Jjancock 



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Headquarters 



GETTYSBURG 



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JATTLE FIELD OF GETTYSBURG. 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

to the rear ; and officers for a moment contemplating the s jne 
with evident amazement, and riding rapidly towards the Sem- 
inary Ridge. ... So sudden and complete was the slaught^- 
and capture of nearly all of Pickett's men that one of ins 
officers who fell wounded among the first on the Emmetts- 
burg road, and who characterized the charge as foolish and 
mad, said that when, in a few moments afterwards, he was 
enabled to rise and look about him, the whole division had 
disappeared as if blown away by the wind." 

Pickett's division was annihilated. A large nunu.r 
of them surrendered ; most of the rest were left dead 
or wounded on the grass ; and thus ended the battle of 
Gettysburg, which had raged for three days, — the 1st, 
2d, and 3d of July. 



412 



The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 



CHAPTER XXX 

THE PRE-EIVJINENCE OF PHILADELPHIA 

The history of Philadelphia ought to be very instruc- 
tive, as that of an old American city, of extremely rapid 
growth in its early years, surpassing all other cities of 
the continent, attracting the attention and admiration of 
the whole civilized world for its success, liberality, and 
devotion to science, becoming the metropolis of the 
country, and enjoying the highest reputation for pro- 
gress, and after that, suffering a decay and a loss of spirit 
and enterprise, and becoming a by-word for backward- 
ness and slowness. The causes of such a change, if we 
could only discover them, would certainly be valuable 
knowledge. 

The part of this change most frequently discussed is 
the loss of our commerce. Ship-building and trading 
with the West Indies and England were among the first 
occupations of the colonists. In the very beginning, 
before the forests were cut away, one of the most profit- 
able things for a settler to do was to combine with a few 
others, build a small ketch or a snow, and carry the 
farm produce of the Swedes to the South. As the land 
was cleared by the English, such business became more 
and more profitable. Timber was abundant, and it 
became a common practice to build a ship, freight her, 
and sell ship and cargo in the West Indies or England. 

413 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Commerce grew steadily all through the colonial period, 
assisted by the reputation of the colony for its products, 
and by the encouragement given by the home govern- 
ment to privateering during the wars with France and 
Spain. Commercial transactions became large, devel- 
oped the first strong desire for banking institutions that 
was felt on the American continent, and produced 
Robert Morris, the financier of the Revolution. 

This success continued after the colonies became in- 
dependent, and Philadelphia rose to be the common 
emporium of the United States. She had her India 
Wharf at Walnut Street, and the list of places regularly 
visited by her ships included nearly all the commercial 
marts of the world. Enormous fortunes were made. 
It was in that period that Stephen Girard amassed his 
$10,000,000, and became the richest man in the Union. 
Ten millions is a trifle now ; but in that day it attracted 
as much attention and created as much astonishment as 
the $100,000,000 or $200,000,000 of a Vanderbilt or a 
Gould. Until recently old people were still alive in 
different parts of the country, who could remember the 
excitement and talk about Girard and his money; his 
will, contested by Daniel Webster; his orphan college 
and his supposed atheism. 

But Girard was not the only man who profited. A 
large number of the families who have formed an im- 
portant part of that society in Philadelphia which has 
so long been famous for its refinement can trace their 
wealth and their importance to those years of com- 
mercial supremacy, as any list of the old merchants and 
shipowners clearly shows. 

This flourishing state of affairs lasted up to the War 

414 



The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 

of 1812, which temporarily destroyed all American 
commerce, and Philadelphia was not able to recover 
from the shock. Some of the old merchants still clung 
to their calling ; but the business steadily decayed. The 
exports, which had been $17,500,000 in 1796, and 
$31,000,000 in 1806, had by the year 1843 sunk 
to $2,300,000, and looked as if they would disappear 
altogether. It is pathetically reported in the history of 
the times that the last ship of the old trade to make the 
voyage to Canton and return was the " Globe, " which 
went out in 1832 and came back in 1833. The " Osage " 
sailed for Canton in 1842 ; but on her return she went 
to New York, and that was the end. The great days of 
China and the Indies were gone. 

The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 doubtless 
assisted in this decay, for it gave New York the ad- 
vantage of receiving the vast freightage of the western 
lakes. A large part of the energy and wealth that had 
been in Philadelphia commerce at that time is said to 
have turned itself toward internal improvements in 
railroads and canals, intended to tap the resources of 
the West, as New York had tapped them with the Erie. 

But although these railroads and canals were an ad- 
vantage to the State to a certain extent, they proved of 
but small gain to the city, which seemed to have lost all 
skill in turning things to account. The railroads, instead 
of delivering their freight in Philadelphia, to build up 
the city's wealth and restore commerce, carried their 
freight straight through the State and delivered it in 
New York. They became mere conduit pipes for pass- 
ing trade through the State instead of into it. As 
Philadelphia became more and more of a manufacturing 

415 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

town, the products of such industries, instead of increas- 
ing her own commerce, were all sent to New York for 
sale and shipment; and even to this day Philadelphians 
travel all the way to New York to buy articles which 
are manufactured in their own city. 

At the same time that we were achieving such success 
in commerce after the Revolution, our city was also be- 
coming the great book-publishing centre of the country. 
The great publishing-houses were there, and it was also 
the headquarters for the successful magazines, like the 
"Portfolio" and "Graham's," which during the early 
part of the present century occupied the position now 
filled by the " North American," " Forum," " Century," 
" Harper's," and others. Longfellow, Bryant, Cooper, 
Willis, Lowell, and Poe, then young men rising into 
fame, were among the contributors to these old Phila- 
delphia periodicals. It was supposed at one time that 
a magazine could not succeed unless it was printed and 
mailed between the Delaware and the Schuylkill; and 
when " Harper's " was started in New York, its failure 
was prophesied because it was not within the limits of 
the magazine city. 

The combination of all these elements of progress — 
the scientific research, the great medical schools, the 
flourishing commerce, and the literary activity — made 
Philadelphia a very attractive city; and this condition 
was intensified when after the Revolution the National 
Government was established there. The lawyers then 
became pre-eminent as well as the doctors, and the 
high reputation of the Philadelphia bar lasted until far 
down into the present century. 

We find the city at that time bearing the marks of a 

416 



The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 

general ascendency in all things. It was famous for 
the excellence of its schemes of philanthropy, charitable 
organizations, and prison discipline, which were the first 
and the best in the country, and set the standard for 
other places. The first American novelist who was 
also the first American to adopt literature as a profes- 
sion was Charles Brockden Brown, a Philadelphian. 
The first American theatre was established there ; the 
first medical, and the first legal periodical, the first 
medical school, the first hospital, the first circulating 
library, the first law school, as well as the first banking 
company and the first fire and life insurance companies. 

But all this progressiveness and prominence passed 
away. The commerce, as we have already seen, had 
sunk to almost nothing by the year 1843. The pub- 
lishing business soon after went to other cities. One 
by one the old ascendencies were lost, and the city, 
instead of its former reputation for progress, became 
known as the most backward city for its size on the 
continent; and its people, instead of being known the 
world over for their liberality and enlightenment, began 
to be accused of narrowness. 

This slowness of Philadelphia has often been blamed 
on the Quakers, but without much justice. In the 
days of her ascendency the city was largely controlled 
by Quakers ; and in the list of persons who developed 
her prominence we usually find a large proportion plain 
Quakers, and many of the others Quakers in transit to 
Episcopacy. During the present century, while the 
city was becoming slow, the Quakers were rapidly dis- 
appearing, and other kinds of people taking their place 
in influence and control. As the backwardness of the 
27 417 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

city has become more and more apparent the more the 
Quakers have been driven from power, it is hardly fair 
to say that the backwardness is their fault. 

Indeed, although the Quakers have been gradually dis- 
appearing ever since the Revolution, there is still among 
the remnant of them a large number who are among 
our most progressive and enlightened people, leaders of 
movements for better municipal government, organizers 
of charity and benevolence, heads of substantial busi- 
ness and industrial firms, and shining examples of hon- 
esty, good taste, and conservatism. In the matter of 
education they are more progressive than they were 
before the Revolution, as three colleges — Swarthmore, 
Haverford, and Bryn Mawr — clearly testify. 

Nor will the building of the Erie Canal, which gave 
New York such an advantage in commerce, altogether 
account for the change. It may partially account for 
the change in commerce, but not entirely even for that. 
Philadelphia commerce, like the commerce of all other 
American ports, was greatly impaired by the War of 
1812. The other places, however, like Boston, Balti- 
more, and New Orleans, were able to revive after the 
war and even to increase their trade. But Philadelphia 
could not recover; her commerce kept declining, and 
the building of the Erie Canal was merely an additional 
blow. 

Another severe blow was the failure of the United 
States Bank in 1841. The people had become accus- 
tomed to relying on it, it had become a part of the city, 
and its downfall spread ruin on all sides. But we would 
in the natural course of things have recovered from this 
disaster, as other places have recovered from similar 

418 



The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 

calamities ; and neither the disaster to the bank nor 
the Erie Canal, nor both of them together, will explain 
the situation ; for the ability of our people seemed to 
be changed. The spirit of enterprise and progressive- 
ness was gone, and they seemed like a new race. 
Their losses extended beyond commerce and beyond 
anything that the Erie Canal would explain. All their 
ascendencies passed away from them, and they seemed 
to have a totally different character and mind. 

The truth is they were a different set of people, and 
the old set had disappeared. At the time of the 
Revolution the political government of Pennsylvania 
and the social influence of Philadelphia were in the 
hands of certain classes, and had been in their hands 
ever since the foundation of the colony. The Quakers 
controlled the Assembly, and made of it a very conser- 
vative body. The members, though elected yearly, 
often held their seats for a long time, and acquired a 
position and dignity unknown in our modern rapidly 
changing legislatures. The Speaker usually held office 
for many years, and became, like the Speaker of Parlia- 
ment, a person of much importance in the community. 
The executive portion of the government, the judge- 
ships, and other offices were in the control of the pro- 
prietors, who usually appointed Episcopalians to fill 
the places ; and here also the terms of service were 
long, and the class who held them acquired much influ- 
ence and power. 

It was by such people as these among the Quakers 
and Episcopalians that Philadelphia was built up and 
made the great and progressive city she was at the time 
of the Revolution. Her rulers may have been some- 

419 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

what arrogant from the long possession of power; but 
there is no question of their ability, their enlightenment, 
and their devotion to the best interests of the city. 
The position their city occupied speaks for them and 
proves their capacity beyond a doubt. 

They, however, neglected one point. They provided 
means for their own education by private schools and 
the College of Philadelphia. But the other people of 
the province, being without any general system of 
schools or education of any sort, grew up in great 
ignorance, and had but little voice in the government 
of the province, and none at all in the government of 
the city. The governing classes not only failed to 
provide for the education of the masses of the popula- 
tion, but they kept them from political power. All 
through the colonial period it was the continual com- 
plaint of the frontier counties that they had not their 
fair representation in the Assembly, and that their 
wishes and needs were disregarded. When the Scotch- 
Irish marched to Germantown to seize the Indians 
whom the Quakers were protecting, they again with 
arms in their hands made this demand for representa- 
tion, and were again denied or put off with excuses. 
Thus the Quakers and Episcopalians prepared for 
themselves a day of vengeance when a turn in affairs 
should put the masses in power. 

It is only fair to say, however, that some attempt was 
made to educate the mass of the people. The Episco- 
palians and the proprietary party, under the lead of 
Provost Smith, and assisted by Franklin and others, 
established schools for the education of the Germans, 
which were successful for a few years and contained a 

420 



The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 

large number of pupils. But the opposition of the 
majority of the Germans and the coming on of the 
French and Indian Wars soon destroyed this solitary 
endeavor at anything like general public education. 

At the outbreak of the Revolution, therefore, the 
population of the province was divided into a pro- 
gressive and comparatively well-educated ruling class, 
composed of Quakers and Episcopalians, who had 
always been in power and knew no other life, and the 
great mass of the populace, who were unaccustomed to 
power and were very illiterate. 

In his book on the " History of Education in Pennsyl- 
vania," Wickersham tells us that at the beginning of the 
Revolution the education of the masses in Pennsylvania 
was at a lower ebb than it had ever been before. The 
educated people among them that had come from the 
old country had died off, and their children had had 
few, if any, opportunities to improve themselves. The 
better classes among the Quakers and Episcopalians 
in Philadelphia were rather well educated, — the Episco- 
palians by private tutors, small schools, and the college ; 
and the Quakers at their own schools. But outside in 
the counties there were only six private schools for all 
the rest of the province, although some of these which 
were conducted by the Presbyterians were very good. 
They educated, however, only the better classes; and 
the number of pupils at all these schools, including 
those in Philadelphia and at the college, is estimated 
by Wickersham at not above four hundred in a popula- 
tion of three hundred and fifty thousand. The rest of 
the people were in darkness. 

This unfortunate condition was fully understood by 

421 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

a few able men like Provost Smith and Franklin ; but 
they seem to have been powerless to remedy it. Wil- 
liam Penn had had some very advanced and excellent 
ideas on the subject of general public education which 
he had embodied in the Charter ; but they had never 
been carried out. No attempt was made at any sys- 
tematic common-school system ; few of the people 
seemed to understand or value it; and many, especially 
among the Germans, were unalterably opposed to it. 

The Revolution wrought great changes in Philadel- 
phia ; and as we have seen in previous chapters, the 
Quakers were completely driven from power. The 
people who took their places were Presbyterians and 
others who had long been kept from power and had 
cultivated a bitter hatred for the ruling classes. They 
were under the leadership of Reed, who was himself a 
Presbyterian and a stranger in the State. 

The Episcopalians, who represented the executive 
and proprietary side of the government as the Quakers 
did the legislative side, were equally the objects of 
dislike among the Presbyterians and those who felt 
themselves deprived of their share in government. 
Some of the Episcopalians, being closely allied with the 
proprietary interest, turned Tory and left the country; 
others, while sympathizing with the patriot cause, were 
disgusted to see the province in the control of what 
they thought a set of disorderly, ignorant upstarts, who 
had no experience in government and no reverence for 
the past. They could not act with such people, who 
were tearing the province to pieces, although, like 
them, they believed in the Revolution. Some of them 
hung back so much that they were considered Tories. 

422 



The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 

Others, like Robert Morris and Wilson, tried to take 
part in the national movement and at the same time 
cling to the old regular and orderly conditions of the 
province, and suffered accordingly. 

But the result was that as a class they were utterly 
driven from power, and their descendants, like the 
descendants of the Quakers, could not restore the 
old ascendency. Their stronghold in colonial times 
had been the college. But the moment Reed and his 
party reached supreme power in the Commonwealth, 
the charter of this valuable institution was annulled and 
its property confiscated. It was a severe blow to the 
slender means of education, and the State was long in 
recovering from it. 

Philadelphia during the Revolution was ruled by a 
mob. For although Reed, Cadwalader, McKean, Mif- 
flin, Dr. James Hutchinson, and others who acted with 
the mob were men of education and sense, they could 
not restrain their followers, had to yield to their desires 
to control them at all, and were powerless to alter events. 
Men like Robert Morris, John Dickinson, and James 
Wilson, who believed in the Revolution, but wanted it 
conducted in Philadelphia rather differently from the 
methods of the mob, were often in a dangerous position. 

The success of the Revolution strengthened the con- 
trol of the new people, and they began to increase and 
fill all the avenues of life. At first their hold was only 
political, and the old set retained much influence socially 
and also in trade and business. They could not be 
completely destroyed at once. The work they had 
done and the moral effect and influence of it continued 
for some time. Indeed, for a few years after the Revo- 

423 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Iution closed, there was a slight reaction in their favor. 
Dickinson returned from Delaware and was made 
President of the State, — an office which nearly corre- 
sponded with that of our modern governor. 

The presence of the National Government, which had 
its home in the city until 1800, was also an assistance 
to the remains of the old set, and gave them a position 
and importance they might not have had without it 
But their hold was slight; they were no longer encour- 
aged by the consciousness of power and success ; and 
soon after the year 1800 the new people began to take 
their places in everything. The old set grew weaker 
and weaker, though retaining portions of their influence 
down to the War of 1812, which was a severe blow to 
them in the commercial interest, and by the year 1820 
their functions as a class were extinguished. 

The man of them who seems to have retained the 
old-fashioned influence longest was Bishop White. He 
had been a young Episcopal clergyman during the 
Revolution and had acted a very discreet part. It was 
known that he favored the patriot cause, although as a 
clergyman he declined to take any prominent part in it. 
Perfect in his tact and of much personal attraction, he 
rose afterward to a very distinguished position, and far 
down into the present century we find him presiding at 
political meetings, and treated by all parties and persons 
with a respect and regard to which no one of his class 
has since been able to attain. 

The new people had been quite effective in their way 
in the Revolution ; but when it came to taking charge 
of the city, continuing its progressiveness and fame, 
and filling the places of the former rulers, they were a 

424 



The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 

lamentable failure. It had been possible to assist the 
Revolution by mob excitement and the wild passions of 
ignorance, but the real greatness of Philadelphia could 
not be continued by such methods. The new people 
were a very inferior people, made up from the masses, 
who all through the colonial period had been kept from 
education and power. 

They were alike incapable in business and in govern- 
ment. When the commerce was impaired by the War 
of 1812, they could not restore it. The publishing busi- 
ness, in which the city was pre-eminent, slipped away, 
like the commerce, to other places, and one by one the 
old ascendencies were lost. The city which had once 
been known as the cleanest in the United States rapidly 
became the dirtiest. 

The old rulers had always believed that nothing was 
too good for their city, and had always demanded the 
highest excellence in everything. The new men were 
just the reverse. Recruited from the classes who had 
never had education, or were opposed to it on principle, 
they believed that inferior things were, after all, the best, 
and they were determined to nave them. Progress and 
advancement had been well enough for the arrogant old 
colonial rulers, but a new and simpler way had now been 
discovered, the way of mediocrity. So thoroughly did 
they succeed in establishing this love of mediocrity that 
it pervaded the whole life of the city, and began to dis- 
appear only within the last ten or fifteen years. 

After the year 1820 began the great influx of foreign 
immigrants, adding new forces of disunion and ignorance, 
and bringing in large numbers of men who cared noth- 
ing for our past and were naturally suspicious. Dis- 

425 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

order, riot, and bloodshed were now to be added to 
the other evils of the new order. 

The volunteer fire companies, which had been started 
by Franklin in 1736, had always been valuable aids in 
saving property, and previous to 1825 were composed 
of respectable people, and were most orderly and effi- 
cient. But after 1825 they rapidly became a curse, 
were filled with men of the roughest and lowest char- 
acter, who saw in the calamity of a fire an opportunity 
to fight their rival companies and pillage the burning 
house. It became a common occurrence for them to 
fight one another on the way to the fire with paving- 
stones and fire-arms ; fires were often deliberately 
started to give them a chance, and Sunday was not in- 
frequently selected as a proper day for this amusement. 

Arrived at the burning building, they would fight for 
the possession of a fire plug while the flames were 
gaining headway; and when at last they began their 
operations, there was so much rivalry among them in 
throwing water that they often ruined more goods with 
it than were destroyed by the fire. They allowed thieves 
to wear their uniform and enter the houses ; they 
became a power in politics, levied contributions on the 
city, the insurance companies and individuals, under the 
fear that they might do even worse things than were 
already done. They had been known to refuse to ex- 
tinguish fires that had been lighted by mobs. Their 
power was so complete that there was scarcely a news- 
paper in the city that dared stand out against them ; they 
maintained their supremacy for nearly fifty years, and 
were not finally abolished by the growing intelligence of 
the people until 1870. 

426 



The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 

Along with the rise of the brigand firemen came the 
Schuylkill Rangers and other gangs of desperadoes and 
footpads which ruled the nights in certain districts. 
District fought with district; the boys imitated their 
elders, and the frequent stone fights are well remembered 
by many persons now living. The City of Brotherly 
Love, the home of the gentle Quaker, became one of 
the roughest cities in the Union. The period 1840 to 
1850 seems to have been the time when the results of 
the changes reached their lowest ebb in all respects, 
and in that time the rioting and disorder were very 
serious. 

Richard Rush, a very prominent man of that time, 
had left Philadelphia in 181 1 to begin his long official 
and diplomatic career under the National Government. 
He went away, leaving his native city still the metropolis 
of America, the leader in every element of progress. 
He returned in 185 1, and in a letter written to Eli K. 
Price, he describes his surprise and disappointment on 
finding the city sunk to third place and continuing to 
lose ground. 

The worst rioting began in 1835, when a negro boy 
attempted to kill a white man with whom he lived. 
There had in previous years been attacks on the 
negroes, and this incident was all that was needed to 
inflame the worst passions among the ignorant and 
brutal masses that had been collecting in the city. For 
two nights the mob hunted the negroes, maiming and 
mangling them, destroying and burning their houses, 
and preventing the firemen from extinguishing the flames 
until most of the poor creatures had been driven beyond 
the limits of the town. 

427 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

Three years after, in 1838, a similar mob attacked 
" Pennsylvania Hall," where an antislavery convention 
of women was meeting, and burned it to the ground. 
The mayor was warned of the danger, but made no 
attempt at defence. The next night the mob burned the 
Friends' Shelter for Colored Children, and the following 
morning the Bethel Colored Church. In 1842 there 
were similar riots against the colored people, and again 
in 1849, in which halls and churches were burned with- 
out the slightest attempt at protection by the authori- 
ties. In 1843 there were labor riots in Kensington ; and 
although the sheriff went out with his posse to subdue 
them, he was overwhelmingly defeated, saved his own 
life only by concealment, and the rioters had free scope 
to destroy the machinery, which was the object of their 
vengeance. 

In 1844 occurred the native American and Catholic 
riots, which lasted with intermittent intervals for several 
months, and would require for their description a sepa- 
rate chapter. They resembled mediaeval wars or the 
fights of the Revolutionists in the streets of Paris. The 
fighting in the streets with the militia continued some- 
times day and night. Churches, houses, and semina- 
ries were destroyed. The mob had cannon, which they 
loaded with old iron and bottles, and moved silently with 
muffled wheels in the darkness to be fired suddenly upon 
the soldiers. When the soldiers learned to fire where 
they had seen the flash of the cannon, the mob used 
slow-matches, and with long ropes drew the cannon 
back to be reloaded. They fired from windows and 
house-tops, and drew ropes across the street to throw 
the cavalry. 

428 



The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 

Judge Porter, in his essay on Chief Justice Gibson, 
has very concisely summed up the condition of affairs 
in those years : — 

" The people of the State, and perhaps of the Union, will 
not soon forget the popular commotions which prevailed in 
Philadelphia between the years 1836 and 1846. We had the 
Abolition riots, the Railroad riots, the Negro riots, the 
Weaver's riots, the Native American riots, and the Military 
riots. Having run short of names, territorial designations 
were adopted, and we had the Moyamensing, Southwark, and 
Kensington riots. Interspersed with these were the riots of 
various fire companies, who seemed to have achieved little 
distinction until their members had been bound over to each 
successive term of Quarter Sessions." 1 

All the disorder, mismanagement, and riot were 
greatly increased by the extraordinary condition into 
which the government of the city had been allowed to 
develop. The original city had been a small territory 
two miles long and a mile wide, bounded on the north 
by Vine Street, on the south by South Street, and ex- 
tending east and west from the Delaware to the Schuyl- 
kill, containing about 1,280 acres. With the increase of 
population spreading out beyond these limits, new dis- 
tricts were created ; and as time went on whole boroughs 
and townships were organized, each one contiguous to 
the city without being absorbed by it, and allowed to 
retain more or less of its former local government and 
authority. 

Thus Southwark was incorporated in 1762, Northern 
Liberties in 1771, Moyamensing in 18 12, Spring Garden 
in 18 1 3, Kensington in 1820, Penn in 1844, Richmond 

1 Essay on Gibson, 87. 
429 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

in 1847, West Philadelphia in 185 1, and Belmont in 
1853. Then there were the boroughs of Germantown, 
Frankford, Manayunk, White Hall, Bridesburg, and 
Aramingo ; and the townships of Passyunk, Blockley, 
Kingsessing, Roxborough, Germantown, Bristol, Oxford, 
Lower Dublin, Moreland, Northern Liberties, Byberry, 
Delaware, and Penn. 

All these twenty-eight divisions acting with the origi- 
nal city as the twenty-ninth division, and the county as 
the thirtieth, tried to create a sort of general government 
for the whole, which resulted in ten or more other 
bodies, — County Commissioners, Guardians of the 
Poor, Board of Health, Port Wardens, School Boards, 
Prison Inspectors, Board of Police, and others with 
more or less irresponsible and undefined powers, which 
made the confusion still greater. There were in all about 
forty corporate, or quasi-corporate, bodies to govern the 
people, overlapping in their jurisdiction and intertwined 
with one another in such a manner that their powers 
and doings could not be understood by the citizens, and 
could with difficulty be unravelled even by those who 
had made the subject the study of their lives. 

It was disputed whether it was the duty of the mayor 
or of the sheriff to put down riots. In a walk or drive 
of two miles, a citizen might come under three or 
four different sets of regulations. Thieves and rioters 
stepped over an imaginary line in the middle of a 
street and laughed defiance at the police. The city 
was illiberal to the districts, and the districts retaliated. 
If a mob came out of the city to pillage and burn in a 
district, the commissioners of the district did not con- 
sider themselves responsible for what happened. 

430 



The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 

There were nineteen distinct sets of taxes, each with 
its army of collectors to gather it in the most expensive 
way, and there were at least twelve distinct debts. 
Each division had its own customs and code, its petty 
jealousy for all the others, and its fire companies and 
gangs of rowdies ready at all times to fight for their 
imaginary supremacy. Each district attempted to pro- 
vide everything for itself at great waste and expense. 
Not only was it impossible to administer police regula- 
tions with any effect, but it was difficult to unite even 
the better classes for any important municipal purpose, 
for all were more or less affected with local jealousy, 
their minds narrowed by the ignorance and barbarism 
which surrounded them, and their energies fettered by 
the system to which they had grown accustomed. 

This widespread disintegration had reached a dread- 
ful condition by 1840; and the riots that followed called 
attention to it more strongly than ever, and at last 
aroused the energies of what remained of the enlight- 
ened people. The city was sinking rapidly, and from 
the first place had fallen to the second in wealth and 
the fourth in population. A reform movement was 
organized and debated for ten years before anything 
could be accomplished. It was not until 1854 that the 
Consolidation Act was passed, which wiped out at one 
stroke the whole vicious system, and has been right- 
fully regarded as the refounding of Philadelphia. It 
may be added that the most active leader of this move- 
ment, its representative in the State Senate, and its histo- 
rian, was Eli K. Price, a plain Quaker of the old school. 

Without the Consolidation Act Philadelphia would 
soon have sunk to a mere collection of villages. It 

431 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

was a measure essential to existence, and cleared the 
ground for restoration. The divisions and confusions 
of the old system continued among the people for a 
long time, and have only recently passed away. Indeed, 
we are not yet, by any means, a homogeneous people. 
We still retain a large part of the habits and tone of 
thought engendered by long years of divisions, cliques, 
and sects ; and the foreign immigration of modern 
times has not tended to mitigate them. 

Although the Consolidation Act gave authority to 
adopt a paid fire department, the brigand volunteer 
system was at first only mitigated, and not abolished 
until 1870. One of the most powerful causes of all the 
trouble had been the lack of education for the masses 
of the people, and that cause has been overcome only 
in recent years. The attempts to overcome it began 
before the reform movement for consolidation, and con- 
tinued afterward. 

After the Revolution was over, the deplorable con- 
dition of education was fully appreciated by many 
people. During the seven years of the Revolution, 
there seems to have been no education at all, and very 
little of it for some years after. The College of Phila- 
delphia, destroyed by the new party in 1779, was, in 
1789, restored to its rights, and for some time existed 
side by side with the University of the State of Penn- 
sylvania, which had been created by the new party to 
supply its place. The two institutions antagonized 
each other, and were useless. In 1794, they were com- 
bined in the present University of Pennsylvania, which 
led a crippled existence until raised to life by Provost 
Stille after the Civil War. 

432 



The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 

The Episcopal Academy was founded in 1785, in 
the hope of partially supplying the loss of the college ; 
and in 1783 the Presbyterians founded Dickinson Col- 
lege at Carlisle. But these were not attempts at the 
general education of the people. They were merely 
efforts to restore the sort of limited education for the 
better classes which had existed before the Revolution. 

After 1790 there was considerable activity to estab- 
lish general public education; but the nature of the 
attempts shows how utterly inexperienced in the 
subject everybody was. At first the efforts accom- 
plished nothing but grants of land or money from the 
legislature. For a long time the only system that 
could be adopted was to assist the church and 
neighborhood schools that sprang up here and there. 
Then academies, something like the colonial Presby- 
terian academies, were founded in the different counties, 
and each of them compelled to give free instruction to 
five or ten poor children. Soon a more general plan 
was attempted ; but by the frequent use of the words 
" poor " and " gratis " it cast such a stigma of pauperism 
on the parents of any children who attended the schools 
that it was a failure. It was not until 1834, after years 
of controversy and struggle and the most determined 
opposition from the Germans and others, that the free 
common-school system was at last adopted for the whole 
State. 

Any one who reads the story of that struggle, and the 
difficulties that attended the adoption of a system so 
evidently beneficial, will have the key to many things 
in the history of our State which are otherwise tin- 
explainable. Nothing else but the adoption of that 
28 433 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

system has raised Philadelphia from the slough into 
which she had sunk by the year 1840. 

The effect of general public education was of course 
not immediate. The instruction was at first inferior. 
Two generations had to be brought under the influence 
of the system before anything very definite was accom- 
plished ; and it is only within the last fifteen or twenty 
years that we have begun to feel its best effects. 

The Centennial Exhibition of 1876 was a great as- 
sistance and a powerful reinforcement to our public 
education. It was like adding a university course to 
the common schools. It enlarged the minds of the 
people, appealed to their tastes, their sense of beauty 
and their feelings, and went a long way toward 
destroying that extraordinary opinion that there is 
something essentially impractical and wrong in beauty 
of design, and high excellence, and distinction. 

Certain it is that within the last few years we have 
experienced a revival of intellectual life ; and the forces 
of the city are apparently becoming more united and 
are being inspired anew. Our commerce has been 
gradually restored ; and though not yet in the supreme 
condition it was before the War of 18 12, it is far in 
advance of the decay and hopelessness of 1840. Our 
manufacturing interests, which have always existed in 
some form, have since the Civil War been inspired with 
new life and grown to enormous proportions ; and the 
men whom they are raising to wealth and influence will 
play an important part in the development of the next 
hundred years. Our architecture is rapidly improving, 
and there are signs of better ideas in widening and lay- 
ing out streets and abolishing grade crossings. 

434 



The Pre-eminence of Philadelphia 

Indeed, within the last few years the city has begun 
to put on a totally different appearance. The people in 
favor of honest municipal government are becoming 
more united, more effective in organization, and have 
already in the last fifteen years accomplished decided 
reforms. Our college, which was ruined in the Revolu- 
tion, has been restored by Provost Stille, and within the 
last ten years raised to a still stronger position by 
Provost Pepper and Provost Harrison. The manufactur- 
ing interests of the city, which were scattered over a 
wide extent of territory, are being centralized and made 
more effective by the Bourse. The islands in front of 
the city have been cut away, the harbor enlarged and 
deepened, the navigation of the river improved, the 
wharves extended and connected with the railroad 
system by the belt line. 

The men who are now rising into importance and 
prominence are educated men, and they will in the 
future have an educated population to support them. 
The discussion, of which we hear so much, about a new 
Philadelphia, has a meaning, and seems to mark a turn- 
ing-point in municipal history. There are many signs 
of unity and enlightenment which have been gradually 
gathering force since the public-school system and the 
Consolidation Act were adopted ; and there is every 
reason to suppose that they will continue and increase 
until pre-eminence is restored. 

The Consolidation Act has been reinforced in recent 
years by the Bullitt Bill, as the new city charter is 
called. After the consolidation of the city, in 1855, 
some of the old forces of disunion continued to work, and 
the city government gradually again grew complicated, 

435 



Pennsylvania: Colony and Commonwealth 

until there were twenty-five departments more or less 
independent of each other, and the mayor a mere 
figure-head with none of the controlling powers of an 
executive officer. Agitation for a reform began about 
1877, an d the Bullitt Bill passed in 1885, and went into 
force in 1887. It reduced the departments to nine, 
made them report to the mayor, gave him power to 
investigate their conduct and to remove officials. A 
steady improvement has since been observed in the 
whole city government. 

It required forty or fifty years to overcome and undo 
the good work of the old colonial rulers, and reduce 
the city to the decay of 1840; and it has naturally 
required about the same length of time to restore and 
renew and bring us to the state we might have reached 
long ago if the old conditions had gone on in their 
regular course. 

43 6 



INDEX 



Adams, John, 275, 308, 317. 
Aix-la-Chapelle, treaty of, 126, 145, 

151, 152. 
Albany treaty of 1754, 121. 
Allen, William, 90, 114, 376. 
Allison, Rev. Francis, 258. 
Amherst, General, 224. 
Ammunition, scarcity of, 195. 
Andre in Philadelphia, 358. 
Anne, Queen, 37, 38, 63. 
Anthracite coal-fields, 408. 
Anti-Constitutionalists, 324. 
Antietam, battle of, 406, 408. 
Architecture in Pennsylvania, 268- 

270. 
Arms, scarcity of, 195. 
Armstrong, Col. John, 185, 230, 

343- 

Arnold, Benedict, 368, 371, 374. 

Assembly, right to originate laws, 
32; right to adjourn, 32, 39, 58; 
memorial of, against Penn, 40, 
42; simple methods of, 56; un- 
justly blamed, 147 ; refuse to be 
governed by secret instructions, 
149 ; attempts on the liberty of, 
150; earnestness in war, 155, 
178, 179, 180; waive their rights, 
191 ; condemned by Privy Coun- 
cil, 193, 204; position of, in Rev- 
olution, 319; abolished, 320. 

Associators, 93. 

Aubrey, Letitia, 66. 

Aubrey, William, 48. 



Bacon, Nathaniel, 176. 

Baltimore, Lord, 15, 16, 83, 87. 

Bank of North America, 383. 

Bank, U. S., 41S. 

Barren Hill, battle of, 365. 

Beaujeau, 158. 

Bedford, Fort, 225. 

Biles, prosecution of, 42. 

Billingsport, 348. 

Blackwell, Capt. John, 18. 

Bond, 336, 376. 

Boston, oppression of, 296. 

Bouquet, Col. Henry, character of, 
208; attacked by French, 213; 
saves Fort Pitt, 225-229; starts 
for Ohio, 251; popularity of. 253 ; 
claim of Virginia troops against, 
254. 

Bourse, the, 435. 

Brackenridge, 397. 

Braddock, Major - General ; em- 
barks for America, 151 ; charac- 
ter of, 153; marches to Fort Du 
Quesne, 156; defeat of, 157-160. 

Bradford, Col. William, 348. 

Brandywine, battle of, 338. 

Brown, Charles Brockden, 417. 

Bullitt Bill, 435. 

Cadwalader, Col. John, 315, 370. 
Carlisle, 370. 

Centennial Exhibition, 434. 
Chancery, Court of, 69. 
Charter of Pennsylvania, 5. 



437 



Index 



Chew, Chief Justice, 131, 272, 336. 

Christ Church, 282. 

Churchmen, 28,36. 

Claypole, James, 16. 

Clinton, Sir Henry, 361. 

Clymer, 298, 299, 323. 

Cole, Josiah, 2. 

College, the, 137, 375, 377, 381, 

43 2 , 435- 
Commerce, 133, 278, 413, 434. 
Conestoga Indians, 233, 235. 
Congress, Continental, 304, 318. 
Consolidation Act, 431. 
Constitution of 1701, 29-33; °f 

!776, 33> 3 22 > 390 5 of r 790> 33> 
392; of 1873, 33; National, 387. 

Constitutionalists, 324. 

Contracts, obligation of, 386, 387. 

Convention of 1776, 321. 

Cook, Arthur, 16. 

Council, Provincial, 32, 52, 75, 76. 

Country Party, 90, 92. 

Country-seats, 270, 275, 357. 

Curtin, Governor, 401. 

Delaware, 13, 35, 66, 326, 327. 

Delaware Indians, 117, 119, 123. 

Denny, Gov. William, 190, 220. 

Dickinson, first appearance in pol- 
itics, 259; favors proprietorship, 
261, 262 ; writes " Farmer's Let- 
ters," 290-295 ; motives of, in 
Revolution, 299; Adams' descrip- 
tion of, 308 ; friendship with 
Adams, 309 ; wants the colonies 
to keep abreast, 311 ; drafts the 
Articles of Confederation, 325 ; 
wishes to delay Declaration of 
Independence, 326, 329 ; unpop- 
ularity of, 329; commands the 
militia, 331 ; retires to Delaware, 
332 ; becomes a common soldier, 
332 ; returns from banishment, 



Constitution, 388. 



Dongan, Colonel, III. 
Donop, Count, 351. 
Drinker, 336. 
Dumas, 162. 
Dunbar, 161. 

Du Quesne, Fort, 129, 156, 161, 173, 
207, 214. 

Eckley, John, 16. 

Ecuyer, Captain, 224. 

Education, 137, 140, 420-423, 432- 

434- 

Elder, Rev. John, 231, 235, 236. 

Emlen, 336. 

Erie Canal, 415. 

Estates taxed, 166, 219, 255. 

Evans, Gov. John, 39 ; attack on 
Biles, 42 ; tries to organize mili- 
tia, 43 ; dismissed, 50. 

Farmer's Letters, 290-295. 

Fire companies, 426. 

Fletcher, Col. Benjamin, 19, 20, 22. 

Floyd, Secretary, 403. 

Forbes, General, 174, 207, 210, 213. 

Ford, Philip, 48. 

Fort Bedford, 225. 

Fort Du Quesne, 129, 156, 161, 173, 
207, 214. 

Fort Ligonier, 225. 

Fort Mifflin, 352. 

Fort Pitt, 214, 224, 228, 395. 

Forts on the Delaware, 346, 347. 

Forts on the frontier, 176. 

Fox, George, r. 

Frames of Government, 11, 12, 24. 

France, alliance with, 330. 

Francis, Tench, 90. 

Franklin, Benjamin, deceived by 
Governor Keith, 70 ; in paper- 
money controversy, 80; recruits 
the Associators, 93 ; attacks the 
proprietors, 128; report of, 
on condition of province, 133 ; 
founds the college, 137 ; his the- 



433 



Index 



ory of education, 140 ; assists 
Braddock, 154; his militia law, 
169; expedition of, against the 
Indians, 171 ; goes to England 
to tax the estates, 196, 215; his 
"Historical Review," 216; taxes 
the estates, 219; returns from 
England, 220 ; raises recruits 
against the Scotch-Irish, 241 ; 
indignation of, at the " Paxton 
Boys," 237 ; his argument for 
royal government, 264 ; goes to 
England to abolish the proprie- 
torship, 266 ; retires from busi- 
ness, 280; opinion of Stamp Act, 
313; returns to the province, 
315; influence on Constitution 
of 1776, 323; favors Declaration 
of Independence, 327. 

French, the, plan the conquest of 
the colonies, 125; press in on 
the colonies, 196, 198. 

French Revolution, 394, 396. 

French wars, Pennsylvania's posi- 
tion in, 21, 22, 146; summary of, 
145 ; used to destroy Pennsylva- 
nia's rights, 147, 150. 

Fries, rebellion of, 399. 

Galloway, Joseph, 263, 304, 335. 
Gentlemen's party, 90, 92. 
Germans, arrive in the province, 

58 ; vote with the Quakers, 91 ; 

position of, in Revolution, 289. 
Germantown, battle of, 343. 
Gettysburg, battle of, 409-412. 
Gilpin, 336. 
Girard, Stephen, 414. 
Gnadenhutten,m'assacre 0^164,174. 
Good living in Pennsylvania, 275. 
Gookin, Gov. Charles, 51-65. 
Gordon, Gov. Patrick, 76-85. 
Goshen, alarm at, 223. 
Grant, General, 366. 
Grant, Major, 210. 



Grant, President, 124. 
Great Law, the, 12. 
Greene, Colonel, 349. 
Greene, General, 344. 
Grey, General, 366. 

Hamilton, Governor, 34, 38, 147, 

148. 
Harrison, Provost, 435. 
Hot-Water Rebellion, 399. 
Howe, General, 337. 
Humphreys, 327. 
Hunt, 336. 

Independence, 324-32S. 

Indians, the, their title to the land, 
99 ; purchase of their land, 102 ; 
their treaty with Penn, 103-110; 
encroachment on their lands, 113; 
defrauded of land, 114, 121; 
alienation of, 119; lands of, on 
the Juniata, 119; settlers re- 
moved from lands of, 120 ; effect 
of fire-water on, 122; Quaker 
efforts to civilize, 122, 123; their 
respect for the Quakers, 124 ; 
become insolent, 126; presents 
to, 127 ; attack the Pennsylvania 
frontier, 162 ; success in war, 
197 ; attack Fort Pitt, 224 ; ha- 
tred against, 231 ; of Conestoga, 
233, 235. 

Instructions to governors, 1S1. 

Judiciary, bill for establishing, 45. 

Keim, Gen. William H., 405. 

Keith, Sir William, appointed gov- 
ernor, 64 ; success as a governor, 
68 ; faults of, 70 ; ruin of, 76. 

Keystone, name of, 288. 

Kittanning, attack on, 184. 

Kuhn, 336. 



Lafayette, 339, 
Law, John, 74. 

439 



365. 



Index 



Lee, Richard, 324, 

Legislation, right to originate, n 

12, 13, 15, 23. 
Liberty of the province, 150. 
Licenses, tavern, 24, 33. 
Ligonier, Fort, 225. 
Lincoln, President, 403. 
Living, good, in Philadelphia, 275. 
Lloyd, David, 28, 29, 40, 45, 52, 57, 
Lloyd, Thomas, 15, 16, 19, 22. 
Logan, Deborah, 273, 328. 
Logan, James, 29, 34, 44, 46, 47, 53, 

64, 75' 76, 94, 13L i3 2 - 
Luxury in Philadelphia, 277, 333. 
Lynching, 236. 

Macpherson, Capt. John, 272, 

316. 
McKean, 319, 332, 370. 
McLane, 357, 364, 36S. 
Mansfield, Lord, 219. 
Markham, William, 8, 20, 22, 23, 29. 
Marvland, boundary of, 15. 16, 46, 

S3, 86, 87. 
Massachusetts, 285. 
Massacres, 162, 197, 222. 
Memorial against Penn, 40, 42. 
Mifflin, Fort, 352. 
Mifflin, Thomas, 297, 301, 304,319, 

373, 37&- 
Military of the province, 174. 
Militia, 43, 69, 93, 169, 171, 174, 195, 

2 4i, 3 J 5> 33*- 
Militia laws, 169, 171, 195. 
Minisink, 114. 
Mirania, College of, 141. 
Mischianza, fete of, 361-365. 
Monmouth, battle of, 368. 
Moore, John, 28. 
Moore, William, 199, 204. 
Moravian Indians, 235, 240. 
Moravians, their opinion of war, 172. 
More, Nicholas, 16. 
Morris, Gov. R. H., 148, 150, 153, 

155, 161, 166, 168, 178, 180, 190. 



Morris, Robert, 271. 273, 329, 372, 

373^ 37&- 
Mortimer, Earl, 67. 
Morton, 327. 

New England, treatment of Indi- 
ans in, 100. 
Norris, Isaac, 50, 261, 266, 273. 
North America, Bank of, 383. 

Oaths, 36, 38, 62, 63, 69. 
Oxford, Earl of, 66. 

Paine, Tom, 311, 3S0. 

Palmer, Anthony, 96. 

Paoli, 340. 

Paper money, 72-75, 79, 81, 83, 87, 

333, 372, 37%- 

Paris, treaty of, 220. 

Patterson, Gen. Robert, 405. 

Pawlet, Earl, 67. 

Paxton Boys, the, 235. 

Pemberton, 338. 

Penn, Admiral, 3, 4. 

Penn, Dennis, 66, S3. 

Penn, John, "the American," 25, 
66, S3, 85. 

Penn, Gov. John, 234. 

Penn, Margaret, 66. 

Penn, Mrs., 64, 67, 83. 

Penn, Richard, 66, 376. 

Penn, Springett, 67, 83. 

Penn, Thomas, 66, 84, 122, 127, 
128, 169. 

Penn, William, first thoughts of 
Pennsylvania, 3 ; early life, 4 ; 
secures grant of Pennsylvania, 
5 ; as a feudal lord, 6 ; impulses 
of his character, 7 ; takes posses- 
sion of Pennsylvania, 8, 9; visits 
the site of Philadelphia, 9 ; activ- 
ity of, 14 ; assumptions of power, 
17, 30; colony restored to, 22; 
returns to Pennsylvania, 24; his 
country-place, 26 ; returns to 



440 



Index 



court life, 37 ; losses from Penn- 
sylvania, 37 ; attempts to sell 
the government, 39, 40, 60; at- 
tacked by Lloyd, 40; dissipation 
of his son, 41, 47 ; memorial 
against, 46; troubles with Ford, 
48; imprisonment for debt, 49; 
popularity of, 53 ; letter to the 
people of Pennsylvania, 53, 58 ; 
portraits of, 59 ; stricken with par- 
alysis, 60 ; death of, 65 ; will of, 
66 ; his treatment of the Indians, 
101 ; his treaty with the Indians, 
103. 
Penn, William, Jr., 41, 47, 66, 

67. 

Pennsbury, 26. 

Pennsylvania seized by the Crown, 
19 ; restored, 22. 

Pepper, Provost, 435. 

Peters, Judge, 274. 

Philadelphia, site of, 9; mapped 
out, 10; in colonial times, 281 ; 
gayety of, in Revolution, 333 ; 
taken by the British, 342 ; de- 
fences of, 342, 346; British in, 
357 : evacuation of, 367 ; condi- 
tion of, after evacuation of, 369; 
commerce of, 414; ascendency of, 
416 ; decline of, 417 ; new people 
in control of, 424 ; rioting in, 427 ; 
government of, 429-436. 

Pitt, William, 206, 215. 

Pitt, Fort 214, 224, 228, 395. 

Pittsburg, 214, 395. 

Pontiac, 221. 

Population, 135. 

Porter, Judge, 429. 

Post, Frederick, 209, 210. 

Potter, 357. 

Price, Eli K., 431. 

Prisoners, 231, 252, 359. 

Proctor, George, 96. 

Proprietary party, 29, 42, 53, 192, 
198, 258. 



Proprietors, wealth of , 135 ; estates 
of, taxed, 166, 219, 255 ; subscribe 
for defence of province, 169; at- 
tempts of on the liberty of the 
province, 181, 191. 

Proprietorship, success of, 7, 135; 
method of abolishing, 256; de- 
bate on abolishing, 262. 

Public-school system, 433 

Quakers, the, originate the idea 
of Pennsylvania, 1 ; their opinion 
of war, 88, 94, 95, 164, 167, 170, 
194 ; treatment of the Indians, 98 ; 
respect of the Indians for, 124; 
as the cause of the French wars, 
129; treaty of, with the Indians 
in 1756, 182 ; supposed retirement 
of, from the Assembly, 194 ; want 
to fight the Scotch-Irish, 241 ; 
controversy of, with Presbyte- 
rians, 247 ; enjoy good living, 279 ; 
position of, in Revolution, 288 ; 
almost join the Revolution, 300, 
305-308, 318; neutrality of, in 
Revolution, 335 ; influence of, on 
Philadelphia, 417. 

Quarry, Colonel, 28, 35, 36, 38, 62. 

Quit-rents, 6. 

Railroads, 415. 

Raynal, 109. 

Red Bank, 349. 

Redemplioners, 89. 

Reed, Joseph, 297, 301, 303, 307, 

3 r 9> 374, 375- 
Reserves, Pennsylvania, 407. 
Revere, Paul, 297, 299. 
Rioting in Philadelphia, 427. 
Rittenhouse, 319, 323. 
Roberts, t,^6. 
Rogers, Major, 176. 
Ross, 298, 299, 323. 
Rush, Dr., 319, 370. 
Rush, Richard, 427. 



441 



Index 



Scalps, 182, 244, 246. 

Schools, 137, 421, 433. 

Scotch-Irish, the, enter the prov- 
ince, 58 ; favor war, 94 ; opinion 
of the Indians, 114; complaints 
against the Quakers, 232 ; march 
to Philadelphia, 239; alarm the 
Philadeiphians, 242 ; at German- 
town, 243 ; grievances of, 243 ; 
visit Philadelphia, 245 ; pam- 
phlet war of, with Quakers, 247 ; 
favor abolishing the proprietor- 
ship, 257 ; dislike of excise laws, 
394; attempt to capture Pitts- 
burg, 395. 

Seneca Indians, 126. 

Shippen, Edward, 25, 131. 

Shirley, General, 161. 

Sideling Hill, battle of, 177. 

Simcoe, General, 1 10, 346. 

Slate roof house, 25. 

Smith, James, 230. 

Smith, Rev. William, provost of 
the College, 139 ; his pamphlet 
on education, 141 ; attacks the 
Assembly, 192 ; arrested by the 
Assembly, 200; appeals to the 
King, 204; writes the reply to 
Boston, 302 ; preaches to the As- 
sociators, 315; preaches before 
Congress, 316 ; supposed toryism 
of, 337 ; banished, 377 ; returns, 
381. 

Spanish privateers, 96. 

Stille, 382, 435- 

Stuart, Jeb, 407. 

Symcock, John, 16. 



Tennent, Rev. Gilbert, 258. 

Thayer, Simeon, 354. 

Thomas, Gov. George, 8j, 95. 

Thomson, 29S, 300, 301, 305. 

Tories, 335, ^6, 370. 

Traders, free society of, 15, 105. 

Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 126, 145, 

151, 152. 
Treaty of Paris, 220. 
Treaty, the Great, 103-111. 
Turner, Robert, 16. 

University of Pennsylvania, 

377, 432, 435. 

Valley Forge, 360. 
Virginia, 133, 165, 254, 286. 
Voltaire, 109. 

Walking Purchase, the, 114- 

118. 
War, Quaker opinion of, 88, 94, 95, 

164, 167, 170, 194. 
Washington, 147, 157, 165, 188, 

207, 274, 338, 341. 
Wayne, Gen. Anthony, 340, 343, 

344, 345- 
Wharton, 336. 
Whiskey Rebellion, 393. 
Whiskey, tax on, 394. 
White, Bishop, 424. 
Wickersham, 421. 
Will Sock, 234, 245. 
Willing, 303, 327, 335. 
Wilson, Fort, 273- 
Wilson, James, 324, 327, 373, 3S7, 

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